


Leaving Isolation

by neco_nemo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Humor, M/M, Pets, Slow Burn, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-27 20:03:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10044230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neco_nemo/pseuds/neco_nemo
Summary: Yahaba is a struggling novelist who never gets out of the house. Through Watari's influence and their friends' pets he will end up with more than he bargained for.





	1. Sundae

**Author's Note:**

> The rating may or may not change.

Many people would think that working from home and being your own boss would be a great thing. You can make your own hours and you only have to work as much as you want, but Yahaba Shigeru hated it. He absolutely hated being a self-employed author. Shigeru wasn’t lucky, in his eyes, he didn’t have an editor or a manager all he had was a company willing to publish his works whenever he bothered to actually finish something. Shigeru wonders to this day why he decided being an author would be a good idea for him. Sure not having to wake up to an alarm everyday was a great thing, his favorite thing even. And he got to spend all of the time in the world with Sundae, his small calico cat, but honestly he was bored.

He had awful writer’s block most days and when he did come up with an idea he just couldn’t get his fingers to type anything out, it all felt like shit and he didn’t think any of it was even remotely decent. Realistically, he spent more time sitting in his living room with Sundae laying across his lap while he tried to watch something on Netflix, honestly that didn’t work out either most days; he couldn’t manage to pick anything.

Thankfully, the boy had rich parents who had graciously given him half of their savings after he graduated college. If he was wise and thrifty he could live off of that gift alone, probably until death. Shigeru hasn’t done anything half assed enough to be thrifty or wise with money. He lived in a modern three bedroom penthouse apartment, yes he did need all three bedrooms; one for him, one for an office, and the last, the perfect play room for Sundae. It was necessary. The apartment came with an open concept living space, a gourmet kitchen, and two full bathrooms, and everything was kitted out, top of the line appliances.

He was lucky and he realized it. He figured that if he lived the way he was currently his parents money would hold him for another fifty years, but that wouldn’t include any traveling or, hopefully, one day at least, a boyfriend, if he couldn’t get a man to marry him, although the latter was unlikely to happen with his lifestyle. When was the last time he even went out? Was it dinner with Shinji when he got his new job? How long ago was that though? It had to have been at least four months. Yahaba was only getting older, he had just turned twenty-eight, he had only finished and published two novels, three years ago, and the only time he actually sees other people is the weekly video call with his high school volleyball team, or the trip to the store every other week. But he didn’t really count the store trips, it always felt like the cashier was judging him. He kept promising himself that once he was done with his next novel he would start something to try and find a boyfriend. Or at least go hang out with his friends more. If the writer’s block stopped eating his creativity alive and draining his soul maybe he would have more than two paragraphs of something written.

Today, oh man, today was the worst day Shigeru has had in awhile. He was in his office with the computer turned on and a document open on each screen, he needed duel monitors alright. One for the actual page he would write on and the other for the ideas and information pages and research…and possibly for videos or social media browsing or literally anything that didn’t have to do with his job. Today, the second monitor actually had a very rough outline of what he could possibly be able to turn into a fleshed out novel. Too bad his forehead had met with the desk an hour ago.

Sure he had ideas, some of which he thought were great and could be amazing but the idea of having to actually come up with sentences and paragraphs to make it come to fruition was unthinkable. Every sentence that did come to mind was insignificant or just plain dumb. Coming up with sentences shouldn’t be this difficult. Yahaba has been speaking since he was two, it shouldn’t be this complicated to type it on a laptop twenty-six years later.

Yahaba groaned deeply and sat up so he could lean back in his chair. He twisted slightly side to side as he stared at the ceiling contemplating life. Maybe he should have gone to school for business and just taken over his mother’s family business, obviously writing isn’t working well for him. But the internships and summer work he had taken there during his college years left him hating life and not wanting to wake up in the morning. At least now he can happily make it to his desk, he just doesn’t get any work done.

He ran his hands down his face and stood up from his seat, maybe some water would clear his head and let things flow a little easier. Hehe flow, like a river. Water wordplay. Yahaba slapped his hands to his face as he walked out of his office, how many stupid thoughts would he have like that in his current state of slight misery. He stopped in the living room to scratch Sundae’s head before he made his way into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. Yahaba leaned against the counter and took a sip, he glanced down at the ground to check Sundae’s water dish but frowned at the full food dish.

Yahaba placed his glass on the counter; he walked back into the living room and scooped up Sundae, “Why aren’t you eating, Missy? This is the second day and you’re starting to worry me.” Sundae climbed up his shoulder and rubbed her face on his cheek, “Well, you’re in a good mood at least but you need to eat. Your vet retired to so I don’t know where to take you. But I’m worried.” He sighed and kissed her cheek before placing her back in the window. “Oh! I know who to call! Don’t worry Sundae whatever is wrong with you will be fixed soon!” Yahaba ran back to his office, grabbed his phone off his desk, and quickly picked his contact.

“Shigeru, I’m at work this better be important.”

Yahaba smiled and ran hand through his hair, “It is important Shinji! It’s actually about your work.”

“I’m not a vet. You know this right?”

He rolled his eyes, “Yes I know! I need an appointment for Sundae. Her old place closed down and she hasn’t eaten yesterday or today so far.”

“Oh, sorry for assuming, let me look at the books.” Yahaba nodded slightly to himself and fiddled with the hem of his shirt. “There’s actually an opening for two this afternoon. Can you make that?”

“Yeah mark me down and I’ll see your pretty little bald head at two!”

“I’ll mark you down but I’m not bald you asshole. Have you been cooking for yourself?”

Yahaba rolled his eyes again and sat in his desk chair, “Yes, mom, I’ve been cooking three times a day and eating my veggies.”

“I worry about you, Shigeru. You’re my best friend let me worry a little.”

“You only get to worry about me once a week so you used this one up and it’s only Tuesday! You can’t worry about me again until Monday.”

He heard Watari sigh, “Yeah, I know, just shut up and take care of yourself, alright?”

“I am taking care of myself! I gotta be there for my baby, Sundae, after all.”

“Alright, I’ll trust you. I’ll see you and Sundae at two ok?”

“Yes we will both be there with bells on I promise. See ya later, Shinji.” He ended the call with a small smile on his face. Watari has been his best friend for over ten years, honestly even a simple text makes him smile like a dork. He set his phone on his desk before falling into his chair. Maybe with the change in mood he could at least get out a paragraph? Although, a page would be ideal, Yahaba would honestly be happy with two sentences. He read over the character sheets and the major plot points he had written down, he even had a few minor plot points; placed his hands over the keys, and…sat there staring at the screen.

He probably sat there for about five minutes before he threw his arms up and leaned back in his chair, finally crossing his arms over his chest with a deep pout on his face. He graduated university under a creative writing major with a fucking 3.9 GPA and yet he can’t seem to get a fucking sentence down. Why? Yahaba had no clue. He managed to always get his work done on time at school and he did really well with them, so why isn’t he getting a single sentence now?

Yahaba was quickly heading into a mode of throwing a tantrum; throwing himself on the floor, kicking sporadically, and screaming until his throat was hoarse, maybe even crying a little. He wasn’t going to do that though; he was twenty-eight and lived on his own so he wouldn’t act like an angry two year old. He was better than that…or at least he hoped.

He was only half better. He slid down his chair until he fell to his knees and let himself fall onto his side. He didn’t scream or even cry but he did stare at the dusty wires under his desk for much longer than acceptable. If it happened to be for four hours and the only reason he sat up was because his stomach started to growl, well Yahaba would take that to his grave.

His muscles ached after lying on his side, unmoving for so long, but he got up and made himself a simple lunch. He was man enough to sit alone at his table and eat, he had Sundae curled up his lap at least, but it was much less comforting than sitting on the couch with the television on. At least then there was more noise than his own chewing to drown out his thoughts. Yahaba was lonely but he would never admit it, to Watari or to himself. He had Sundae! He shouldn’t need anyone else.

Yahaba jumped slightly, snapping out of his trance like state, from his phone vibrating on the table. He grabbed the phone as Sundae resettled herself in his lap, lightly digging her claws into his thigh in protest of him moving. A text from Watari had broken their peace, ‘Hey Shigeru, I’m assuming you forgot the name of the clinic I work at so here’s the directions to Animal Paws Clinic. You’re appointment in is fifteen minutes so leave quickly!’

Wata-mom saves Yahaba’s ass again. He placed his phone in his pocket and reached down to scratch under Sundae’s chin, “You ready to see if this vet can figure out what is stopping my little princess from eating?” The purr he received in response put a small smile on his face. “Alright then let’s get you taken care of.”

Yahaba stood up with Sundae so her front paws were resting on his shoulder and her butt was supported by his arm. He stroked her cheek gently as he mumbled, “Now where on earth did I leave your carrier.” He hummed softly and walked around his apartment. “Ah…I remember now. It’s in the closet in my office isn’t it? After your last vet trip I thought I had a brain baby but turns out I only had a fur baby.” He quickly walked to his office and pulled open the closet doors, “See? I was right for once, Sundae.” Yahaba tapped her nose before he opened the carrier door and helped her get in.

He closed the gate and lifted the carrier, “Alright, Princess, I know you don’t like the car but we’re going to get in the car, and then we’re going to see why you aren’t eating. Ok?” When Sundae did nothing but settle in the carrier Yahaba nodded to himself, “Alright that’s good.” He left the office, grabbed his keys, locked the door, and pushed the button to call the elevator. He quickly got in and pushed the button for the underground parking garage.

His mother had told him it was weird that his penthouse didn’t come with private access or a private elevator but always forgets that he was looking for a place like that. When Watari has his “check on Yahaba” meltdowns he wanted it to be more difficult to get into his apartment. Which still didn’t work in his favor, as one of the owners of the other penthouse was his senior from high school, who had his own best friend that needed emergency check ins so he always opens the apartment for Watari if he’s home. Hell, even his boyfriend will do it for Watari now. Yahaba had considered moving because he doesn’t need Watari finding him in his underwear, eating cereal, and watching bad reality television as often as he has. That embarrassment will never truly fade.

Yahaba shook his head and stepped out of the elevator. He walked over to his car and put Sundae’s carrier in his back seat and got in the front himself. He turned the car on and read over the directions Watari had given him once more. He actually read them multiple times but he was still afraid he’d get lost or something worse would magically happen. It was a problem that he would think like this and he was aware of it but he didn’t know how to make it stop. Until it became a problem for others he didn’t care.

Thankfully re-reading the directions as many times as he did got him safely to Animal Paws Clinic. The building looked nice, honestly better than his last vet’s building, and the sign was really pretty and stood out perfectly but not obnoxiously. He got out of the car and grabbed Sundae before heading inside.

“I see you managed not to get lost.”

Yahaba placed the carrier on the ground and leaned against the counter dramatically, “Oh, Shinji! I almost got hit by a bus on the way over here! Could you imagine if something happened to my poor little Sundae?”

Watari rolled his eyes, “What about you dumbass? You’re important too.” He stood up, “I’ll tell the doctor that you’re here just don’t do anything stupid please.”

“What could I do in a waiting room anyways Shinji?” Yahaba huffed and sat in a chair with Sundae’s carrier in his lap, “What does he even think that I could do?” He muttered as he looked at Sundae.

Watari came back out, “Come on let’s get Sundae weighed and I’ll get you set up in an examination room.” Yahaba stood up and walked over to him quickly. “Just put the carrier down and I’ll weigh it after we get Sundae out ok?”

Yahaba nodded and set the carrier on the scale, “I have taken Sundae to the vet before, Shinji. Oh wait...Should I have brought her records?”

Watari shrugged and scribbled a note on a notepad, “Just text me a picture of it sometime and I’ll add it to the system.”

“Thank you Watari!” He picked up the carrier and followed his friend into an examination room. He put the carried on the counter and opened the gate, “Do you wanna come out Princess?”

“You’re going to confuse her. How will she know to come to Sundae if you always call her Princess?”

Yahaba frowned and held Sundae to his chest, after she crawled out of the carrier, “Sundae is a very smart cat and she knows that her name is Sundae but she is my little princess and sometimes gets called Princess.” He sat down on the bench next to the counter.

Watari smiled and took the carrier, “Alright, Shigeru, whatever you say. Doctor Kyoutani should be in in a minute. So just sit down and don’t do anything weird.”

“Again what can I do? I’m concerned about my baby! Look at how skinny she is! It’s only been two days.”

Watari sighed, “Yahaba she doesn’t look any different than she normally does just calm down it’s probably something really simple and you’re just scaring yourself and if it isn’t something simple I’ll buy you dinner tonight.”

Yahaba frowned, “Or you could just buy dinner tonight anyways. I always buy Tuesday night dinner.”

“That’s because you’re an amazing friend who is helping out a friend who just got their first full-time job, apartment, and a cute little puppy who needs to eat.”

“You are lucky that I am holding Sundae and that Baby is adorable. I’ll buy dinner if it isn’t something simple.”

Watari smiled, “Thanks Shigeru!” He left the room and shut the door behind him.

Yahaba sighed and stroked Sundae’s cheek, “What are we going to do about him? Ah let’s worry about Shinji after I’m done worrying about you, Princess.”

“Princess? Watari said that I had a Sundae next? Did he send me to the wrong room?”

Yahaba stood up, “Sorry. This is Sundae I just c-…” Holy shit he needed to either kill Watari or kiss him. The vet, could he even be an actual vet looking like that? Yahaba was convinced that the man before him was a stripper that Watari hired and he rented everything around here because no vet is that fit. Yahaba knew a personal trainer and this fucking vet could give him a run for his money. Yahaba was beginning to doubt this man managed to go to school for as many years as needed and still go to the gym enough to be this fucking built. His arms were, in Yahaba’s mind, the perfect size, big enough to probably fuck him against a wall and would feeling amazing when wrapped inside of them cuddling but not so big that you would be slightly scared if you saw him. The vet was tall but the tiniest bit shorter than Yahaba, maybe three centimeters? He had short dyed blond hair that looked a little curly with two black parallel stripes shaved from temple to temple. He had adorable golden brown eyes that looked slightly angry but the deep bags under them led Yahaba to believe he was less angry and more tired. A nice long weekend in bed could do him good. His nose was cute and slightly upturned at the tip and his lips looked like they needed to meet Yahaba’s many years ago and many many times. The man was so cute Yahaba wanted to squeeze his face...but he also really wanted to be manhandled and destroyed by the man.

The sound of a throat clearing made Yahaba snap his gaze back to the vet’s face, “You just?”

Yahaba felt his throat dry up as he slowly blinked three times, “Uh...Oh right. I just call her Princess. This is Sundae.”

He smiled softly, and Yahaba swears his heart stopped, “Well she’s very pretty I can see why you would call her princess.” He walked over to the counter, “So what seems to be wrong with little Sundae here?”

Yahaba frowned and placed her on the counter, “She’s acting completely normal but yesterday and today she hasn’t eaten at all. She still drinks, and does her business, she still plays for hours, she hasn’t gotten any clingier than normal. She just won’t eat. Not her normal cat food, not wet food, not her favorite treats, not even little bits of chicken I cook up from my own dinner.”

“Well that doesn’t sound good but I may have an idea.” Yahaba raised an eyebrow and watched as the vet stroked Sundae a few times before opening her mouth. He let go of her mouth and stroked her again, “What a good girl. So calm.” He glanced up at Yahaba, “It does look like a couple of her teeth have rotted so I’d like to take them out. I also want to just finish a standard check up. I’m going to put her under anesthetics to remove the rotten teeth so if you would like leave and come back just before six she should be up and have been up long enough to make sure that there are no side effects.”

Yahaba nodded, “Yeah I can come back then. It’s perfect actually. Thank you...Doctor?”

“Oh right. I completely forgot to introduce myself. Kyoutani Kentarou. Please trust that Sundae will be in the best care.”

“Yahaba Shigeru and you have my trust...for now.”

Kyoutani chuckled, “Well I guess that’s fair. I hope I can satisfy you.”

Yahaba doubted that he wouldn’t be satisfied but thankfully the clean part of his brain spoke for him, “We shall see.” He coughed awkwardly, that wasn't how he wanted this to go at all, “I’ll just go now and I’ll be back at before six to pick her up.” He quickly walked over to the examination room door, “Bye Sundae be a good little princess like I know you are!” He quickly walked out to the lobby and shot a harsh glare at Watari.

“What? What could I have possibly done?”

Yahaba just shook his head, “I’m picking up Sundae just before six so I’ll pick you up for dinner.”

“Why are you glaring through? Is that not a normal thing to do?” Yahaba narrowed his eyes more and walked to the main entrance, “Shigeru, what the hell is wrong?”

He looked over his shoulder, “I will talk to you about it at dinner. Not a moment sooner or later.” With one last glare at Watari he left the building and got back in his car. He drove back to his apartment and tried to sit in his office again, but it felt weird. It felt almost quiet...which was weird Sundae never made much noise anyways, and if she did it was in her play room on the second floor. Yahaba never thought that a tiny little cat could make his apartment feel so full but apparently she did. He sighed and stared at his blank computer screen, just three hours until he can get his little baby back.

 

* * *

 

As soon as the clock struck five thirty Yahaba ran out of the apartment and drove as quickly as legally possible. At exactly ten to he got out of his car and fastly walked into the building. He leaned on the counter and placed a hand on Watari’s head, “Dear bald wonderman please tell me that my little princess is doing better and you’re buying me dinner tonight.”

Watari scoffed and pushed his hand away, “I’m not bald! And I know it isn’t ideal to you but I am just an assistant. I’m not an actual vet so I don’t know how she’s doing because Kyoutani didn’t need my help.” He stood up and walked around the counter, “He does want to talk to you though so follow me?”

Yahaba smiled, “Anything for the man who is buying me dinner tonight.”

Watari laughed and shoved Yahaba into an examination room, “Your bill says that you’re buying dinner so have fun with that.” He shut the door and Yahaba swears he heard a deep cackle from the other side. That little fuck.

Yahaba sat down on the bench and crossed his arms over his chest like the indignant toddler he pretended not to be.

“Sorry have you been waiting long?” He jumped slightly and quickly turned to look at Kyoutani. He was carrying Sundae and gently stroking her cheek. 

Yahaba quickly stood up with his hands at his sides, “Um no. Sorry, something else was bothering me, I just got in.”

Kyoutani nodded and placed Sundae on the counter, “Alright, I’m glad you weren’t waiting long. Her check up was fine everything minus the teeth seem to be in perfect order. She took really well to the removal and she even ate a little. She probably would have eaten more but I don’t think that she is fond of our food. She seems like the kind of cat who gets better food than what we have here.”

Yahaba smiled and hugged Sundae to his chest, “Aw my spoilt little princess didn’t like the food? You better eat when we get home then missy or you’ll get your tiny butt in trouble.” He smiled and looked to the vet, “Thank you so much. I was super worried about this dork.”

Kyoutani chuckled, “Well when you’re ready to go Watari will help you with your paperwork and you’ll be free until next time Sundae has a problem.”

Yahaba kissed the top of Sundae’s head and helped her into the carrier. After shutting the gate he picked it off of the counter before he turned to Kyoutani, “Thank you again.”

He smiled and shook his head, “It’s not a problem. It is my job after all.” He walked across the room and opened the door, “If you’ll follow me?” 

Yahaba followed him out to the reception area and set Sundae’s carrier on the counter.

“Watari feel free to leave once you help Yahaba.”

“Thank you, Sir!” Watari turned to Yahaba once Kyoutani left, “So Sundae is gonna run you 240 dollars.”

Yahaba gasped, “Sundae why are you so expensive? You shouldn’t cost nearly that much! You little traitor.” He glared at the carrier and pulled out his wallet, “So what do you want for dinner tonight?”

Watari shrugged and took the card for Yahaba’s hand, “Pizza? I’m always up for a good pizza.” He handed Yahaba back his card and came around the counter, “But whatever is fine.”

Yahaba shrugged, “Pizza is good. Order it now and we can pick it up with Sundae still in the car.”

Watari grabbed his phone and pushed him out of the building before locking the door, “Do you really think that it will take that long to drive to pick it up.” 

Yahaba turned to him, “With Sundae in the car yes it will take that long. I’m not driving recklessly with a princess in the car.”

Watari rolled his eyes, “Well you better not whine about how much I order then and I get to take half of the leftovers!”

“Fine fine. See if I try and stop you. You’ve already got pay back coming your way.”

“Wait what did I even do?!”

Yahaba glared at Watari after he put Sundae in the back seat, “You know what you did. But I will remind you when we get back to my place.”

“Alright you crazy bastard I’m sorry for whatever I did.” Watari turned away from him with his phone to his ear.

Yahaba smiled softly as he got in the car and turned it on. He loved Watari dearly, he really did, even considered him his closest friend, but that does mean that the teasing greatly increases with him above anyone else. That’s how friends work right? 

Watari slipped into the passenger seat, “You know where to go right?”

Yahaba glanced at him as they both put their seatbelts on, “Seeing as we only get pizza from one place I’m pretty sure I know where to go get it.”

He laughed, “Well, sorry pissy pants. You really must be mad today if that’s how you’re acting.”

Yahaba sighed and pulled out of the parking lot, “Well I guess I’m not really mad...Maybe more frustrated than anything? Yeah frustrated is probably a better term to use.”

“Sexually frustrated?”

Yahaba glared and quickly looked to him, “What are you talking about Shinji?”

Watari shrugged and held his hands up, “Sorry sorry. I’m just saying when was the last time you actually had sex? Hell when was the last time you even got a hand job? Do you even masturbate? Because I can see you as that weirdo who doesn't masturbate if their pet is in the room and Sundae won’t leave your side if you’re in your bedroom. So I think the sexually frustrated question is completely valid.”

He scoffed, “For your information, Shinji, I masturbate enough...I’m just smart and do that in the shower.”

“Oh my god.”

“Besides the last time I had sex wasn’t that long ago...I fucked that really hot dude after graduation.”

Watari gasped, “Graduation? Shigeru, you do realize that was six years ago right? You haven’t even had a hook up since then?”

“Wait six years...really?!”

Yahaba heard a slight slap and glanced over at Watari who had his head in his hands, “Don’t tell me you forgot how old you are again.”

“I’m twenty-seven!”

“Shigeru! You’re twenty-eight! This can’t be healthy. You really need to get out more often and break up the days. You’re worse off than my grandma and she’s actually ninety! But she can tell me the date perfectly and she actually gets out of the house three times a week for an exercise class.”

Yahaba gasped and placed a hand over his heart, “Are you saying I’m fat?”

“Well I wouldn’t say fat per say...”

“Shinji!”

Watari tossed his hands in the air, “What do you want me to say? You definitely aren’t as fit as you were in college and you can’t say it’s just you getting older because Iwaizumi and Oikawa are both fitter than they were in college and everyone else is at least as fit. You can’t hide that bit of stomach pudge from me Shigeru. I’m not saying you’re fat but I don’t want you to think that and do something stupid you know?”

Yahaba sighed, “I’m not going to do anything stupid Shinji, don’t worry your pretty little bald head about it. I’m not self conscious about my body yet. I don’t need abs. I don’t really want them again either. I was actually relieved when I lost them. But I probably should do a little exercise again. I nearly died the other day when I had to run up to my room and one set of stairs should not wind me so much.”

Watari smiled, “Good. You’re my best friend and I worry about you. But let’s eat pizza and drink tonight and not worry about anything.”

Yahaba laughed and parked the car outside of the pizza place, “You better not drink too much you do have work tomorrow.” He fished his wallet out of his pocket and held it out to Watari.

“Technically you do too my friend. But you don’t have a boss who will possibly get angry if you show up to work with a hangover.” He grabbed the wallet and got out of the car, “I’ll be right back.”

Yahaba smiled and leaned back in his seat. It was always comforting to know that Watari cared about him so much. Well comforting and annoying. It was sweet he cared as much as he did but God it could be horribly overbearing and somehow it managed to put pressure on him, if he failed he wouldn’t just be letting down his parents and himself but also Watari, and that is more terrifying than anything.

Yahaba buried his face in his hands and sighed. He ran a hand through his hair and looked out of the windshield to see Watari walking out with three large boxes. He opened the back door and put the boxes next to Sundae before getting in the front. “What the hell Shinji? When do you think the two of us will finish three large pizzas?”

Watari put his seatbelt on and looked at him, “One is dessert so calm yourself and let's go back to your place because I am starving.”

“Fine but we are having a long discussion when we get there.”

He laughed and bumped Yahaba’s arm, “Whatever you say.”

The drive back to the apartment building was quiet, the smell of food driving both of the men to silence. They made their way into the apartment, separating as Watari went to the kitchen and Yahaba carried Sundae into the livingroom. He placed her carrier on her bench and opened the gate, “You gonna come out Princess?” He smiled when she slinked out of the carrier and hopped off of the bench. He moved the carrier to the ground, so she couldn’t knock it over later.

Watari walked over and set two plates and beers on the coffee table next to the pizza boxes, “You know you could have done this since it’s your house.” He sat down and quickly grabbed a piece.

“Well you know we could go to your place. I’m sure Baby would love to see me more often than she gets to.” 

Watari rolled his eyes, “Yeah, she wouldn’t. Besides we go to yours because Baby is still out with the dog walker right now and I hate showing up before or when she gets home...it’s awkward.”

Yahaba laughed, “Is it just awkward because you have a crush on said dog walker?”

He smirked at the pink blush now coating Watari’s cheeks, “It has nothing to do with that Shigeru! Plus I don’t have a crush on her! It’s just weird to be there and be like ‘Oh I pay you money to do the thing I can’t do for my dog. How is your day?’ If Baby wasn’t a puppy I probably wouldn’t even be using the dog walker.”

“I mean it’s not as weird as you might think it is. It can’t be any weirder than walking into the house with muddy shoes when the maid is in...I did get scolded though so don’t take after me.”

“I wouldn’t dream to take after you, Yahaba. You don’t even have a kotatsu! How you live in winter is beyond me.”

Yahaba smiled and took a sip of beer, “I just turn the heat up because I might as well heat the whole house.”

“You know sometimes I forget that you’re a rich boy but then you say things like that. Anyways I’m due a lecture I think?”

Yahaba grunted and put his food down and wiped his hands on a napkin, “You are.” He took another sip of beer and slammed a hand down, “How could you not tell me that your boss was so fucking hot?”

Watari blinked at him, “What?”

“The vet? Kyoutani? Fuck, Shinji, I wanted him to push me up against the wall and ruin me. I just...I would date him in a instant. Who am I kidding. If he had asked me to take off my pants as payment for Sundae’s bill I would have let him fuck me in a heartbeat.”

“Oh my God! Yahaba! That’s my fucking boss! You don’t need to talk about him like that! Also since when is that your type? I always thought you had a thing for Oikawa?”

Yahaba gagged and shot him a dirty look, “Where have you been Watari? Oikawa treats me like a younger brother. I don’t want to date him nor has he ever been my type. If anyone at school was my type it was way closer to Iwaizumi.”

Watari hummed and started to eat again, “So you like beefcakes and not pretty boys. My bad. I guess you are what most would consider to be a pretty boy though so why would you want to fight for the prettiest title in your relationship? Is that why you only ever see lesbians in pairs with like a lipstick lesbian and a butch?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s offensive to lesbians.” Yahaba poked him in the forehead, “Besides you know that there isn’t a ‘pretty’ and ‘butch’ person in every gay relationship. Or did you forget about across the hall?”

“I mean in my defense Iwaizumi is both pretty and butch.”

Yahaba laughed, “I have a feeling you are the only straight man that would say that and not have to clarify that they are straight.”

“I’ll take that as a complement.” He smiled brightly and flicked a piece of pepperoni at Yahaba, “So you were just mad because I didn’t tell you what Kyoutani looked like?”

“Yeah? I was not prepared for that and made myself look like a freaking idiot because I was not expecting someone so hot and young. I was expecting middle-age, dad, receding hairline, father of two not a stud muffin with arms that could break me in half.”

“That’s so gross I’m sorry Sundae has to live with you.” Watari stretched and leaned against the couch, “I was really worried that I had actually done something wrong and you’re just mad that I didn’t tell you what my boss looked like.” He ran a hand over his head, “You won’t even have to see him for how long? He’s probably going to forget that first meeting anyways.”

Yahaba sighed, “I mean yeah probably...He’s probably straight too.” He groaned and dropped his head to the coffee table, “God he’s probably already married to a pretty girl and she’s probably pregnant or they have like a cute pet together.”

Watari kicked his knee, “Calm down you freak. He’s not married. I don’t think he’s even seeing anyone. He just moved here a few weeks before I got the job so he probably hasn’t really met anyone.”

He grabbed a slice of dessert pizza and sighed, “I guess...why am I worried anyways? I’m not going to see him again anyways.”

“God you’re depressing...and you really have the fucking hots for him.” Watari kicked him again, “It’s not over yet. Who knows you’re dirty rich boy look might have been just as enticing to him as he was to you.”

Yahaba glared and looked up at him, “What do you mean dirty?”

Watari stood up and closed the boxes, “Oh you know...it looks like you haven’t washed your hair in three days, your jeans are ripped, and there is a huge stain on your shirt. Plus there is an actual layer of dust in your hair.” He grabbed the boxes, “Well I’m off to see Baby have fun Shigeru!”

Yahaba sighed and dropped his head on the coffee table again. Just fucking fantastic.


	2. Shouyou

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told myself I would update this on the tenth of every month at a minimum and I barely made it. This chapter has a slight Kindaichi/Kageyama romantic relationship but not featured heavily.
> 
> Thank you for the support so far!

Yahaba hated many things. The thing he hated most? Being woken up early, like he was right now. He screamed into his pillow. He was extremely ready to murder who ever dared to phone him at this time of day. He snatched his phone and put it to his ear, “What?!”

When he was met with silence Yahaba rolled onto his back and huffed angrily into the receiver, “If you don’t fucking answer in five seconds, I’m hanging up.”

“Uh...Y-Yahaba?”

Yahaba’s face screwed up, “Yuutarou? What are you doing calling this damn early in the morning? And why didn’t you respond right away?”

“I’m sorry! Your anger kinda startled me...But early? Yahaba it’s almost eleven in the morning. It’s practically afternoon. I thought I waited long enough for you to be up. I’m sorry.”

Yahaba sighed and sat up, “It’s fine. Sorry for shouting I’ve been having trouble sleeping this past week. What’s up?”

“I’m sorry to hear. Um...I need a favor. If you’re free of course! You don’t have to do it if you’re busy. But um. I’ve had to reschedule Shouyou’s appointment twice already and I really need to take him into the vet today to get neutered, but I have meetings all afternoon and Tobio is away for a training camp. Could you just drop him off? I should be able to pick him up though...I think. I should be done with work before they close.”

Yahaba stood up and stretched his back, “I can do that. I can pick him up if you get stuck at work though I need to run some errands today so it won’t really be a problem.”

He heard a small sigh, “Thanks Yahaba. I’ll text you if that becomes a problem. I already left your name with the building owner so they’ll let you in the first time. We have a spare set of keys in the bowl by the door that you can take just in case I need you to pick up Shouyou. He’s going to that place that Watari works at. Do you know where it is?”

Yahaba hummed softly and walked into his bathroom, “Yeah. I had to take Sundae there last week. What time is the appointment?”

“Noon…”

“Yuutarou!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know when you would be awake so I thought it was better to be safe than sorry and I still wasn’t safe!”

Yahaba sighed and ran a hand down his face, “No it’s my fault. I should be setting alarms when I can’t sleep so I don’t ruin my sleep schedule. You live fairly close to me so it’s fine.”

“You should just have to drop him off...I’m pretty sure I filled out all of his information when I made the appointment. I’m sorry this is so last minute. Oh one weird thing. You can bring this up to the vet if you want but I don’t think it’s a problem. Shouyou does this thing where he stops literally everything if he’s smelling something. Like he breathes normally all the time but if there’s a smell he’ll stop whatever he’s doing and just sniff for however long until he’s satisfied. He even stopped mid meow when we were burning cookies once.”

“It’s fine just go to your meetings and work hard, but your cat sounds weird as hell. I’m sure he’s cute and sweet though.” Yahaba smiled softly, “You know I look like a mess right now and won’t have time to clean up. You owe me, Yuutarou.”

“Yaha-”

“No butts! I want to have dinner with you and Tobio sometime. I feel like you talk even less than Akira, during the Skype calls, and that’s saying something. I want to hear about your lives plus aren’t you in the running for a fairly big promotion?”

“I am...I think Tobio gets back today before seven? He might be a little grumpy but practice will start up again tomorrow and his dinner schedule gets thrown around like crazy.”

Yahaba turned on speaker phone and set it down on the bathroom counter, “How do you two even spend time together when his schedule is like that?”

“A lot of lunch dates. Plus there’s usually an hour or two between the time he gets home and that I need to go to sleep so we’re generally pretty good with seeing each other.”

Yahaba hummed as he started to undress from his pajamas, “That’s too adorable. Get out of my fucking face.”

“I thought you wanted to go to dinner tonight? Don’t I need to be kinda in your face then?”

Yahaba placed a hand over his face, “Just keep your cute relationship out of my face. You’re making me feel lonely. Stop before you say anything! I’ve made my choices and set my own rules and I won’t date until I publish my next book. Plus, Sundae keeps me from truly getting lonely. Now, Yuutarou, I’m going to go and pick up Shouyou from your house and take him to the vet and you are going to go to your meeting or meetings. I’ll just pick him up when he’s done so don’t worry about it. See you later for dinner!” He quickly hung up the phone and started to get dressed.

He loved Kindaichi, he really did! It’s just that sometimes the kid drives him a little crazy. It isn’t that Kindaichi is stupid, just maybe not as socially aware as he could be? Maybe that’s not the way to phrase it. Yahaba shook his head and ran a hand down his face. It’s not like it matters, the little ticks Kindaichi has. He quickly got dressed and looked at his hair in the mirror, it was greasy and disheveled so what’s the point in brushing it? He took a quick glance at his clothes. At least they weren’t torn and stained this time? Wrinkly and ill fitting, yes.

Yahaba sighed and left the bathroom. Who is he trying to impress anyways? That vet is fucking gorgeous, there is no way that he’s single, fuck whatever Watari said, little asshole likes to lie anyways. Kyoutani might not be married but he has to be dating someone! People that hot are not unavailable for more than like three weeks at a time. Yahaba shook his head. He really needs to stop thinking about shit that doesn’t matter. Feed the cat and leave the apartment. That’s what matters right now.

He quickly walked into the kitchen and opened one of the top cabinets to pull down Sundae’s bag of food. He filled her bowl and topped off the water before making his way to the front door, after a quick check on Sundae to make sure she was sleeping in the bay window. He slipped on his shoes, grabbed his keys, and locked the door. Gotta make sure Sundae is safe from weirdos. Although the only weirdos who could get on the floor were Watari and his neighbors across the hall, the worst they would do is steal any chips he had in his apartment.

Yahaba took the elevator down to the parking garage and got in his car. Fifteen minutes. That’s how long it should take to get to Kindaichi’s apartment building, maybe another five to find Shouyou and his transporter and get him in it, then at least another twenty to get to the vet’s. Was that even enough time? It should be but traffic can kill time based plans.

Thankfully, Yahaba was in luck that day, the traffic was much lighter than he expected granting him an extra two minutes. His favorite thing about this apartment building was the guest parking right by the door. The only thing more tiring than writer's block is definitely walking unnecessarily. He orders most of his grocery shopping online and the store boxes it up before he even gets there because it grants him less unnecessary walking and it’s endlessly quicker.

He parked the car and slowly made his way over to the doorman. There was a good chance the dude was on steroids because that amount of muscles could not be made naturally. This new dude was freaking terrifying, tall and buff, and he had a wicked nasty glare. To say Yahaba was intimidated was putting it nicely, he nearly shit his pants, and he was used to tall and buff dudes being around him. He walked towards the man who quickly snapped his gaze to him, “Are you Yahaba?”

He stopped dead in his tracks and nodded, “Yes.” Score one for not squeaking or stuttering.

The man shoved a hand in his pocket, opened the main door, and held a key out to him, “The Kindaichi Kageyama apartment is room 317. Please return this key to me when you leave.”

Yahaba stared at him for a second before grabbing the key and stepping inside, “Thank you.” Once the door shut behind him he let out a small sigh. So the dude probably wasn’t actually as scary as he looked so that’s nice. He shook his arms out and made his way over to the elevator. His lazy ass was not going to walk up two flights of stairs, not a fucking chance.

After making it to the third floor, Yahaba skimmed the door numbers until he found the seventeenth one. He unlocked the door with the borrowed key and entered the apartment. He shut the door and snatched the keyring with two keys off of the table next to the door. He pocketed them as he let his eyes scan the room. He noted the black canvas transporter on the coffee table in the living room. At least that’s one less thing he had to worry about. Now to find the ginger cat to put in the transporter.

Yahaba did a general sweep of the common spaces on the apartment but no cat was found. He checked the bathroom first, Shouyou had a weird thing about licking the floor of the shower, still no cat. He glanced at the bedroom door and slid over to it when he realized the door was pushed open slightly, just enough for a cat to slink through. He slipped into the room and checked everywhere he could but still the cat was unfound.

He stood there and stared at the bed. Shouyou was not like his little Sundae. She was always easy to find, almost always laying in the sun, but Shouyou was not a normal cat apparently. So how do you find an abnormal cat? Yahaba didn’t have a fucking clue. He let out a deep sigh and ran a hand down his face. Just as he was about to leave he noticed the slightest movement by one of the pillows, last time he checked pillows didn’t move on their own. He walked over and gently took the pillow away only to find a small orange tabby cat. It shook it’s head and glared at him while it yawned. Damn, Shouyou must have learned that glare from Tobio or he was made to be owned by him.

Yahaba smiled and scooped the cat up into his arms, “Sorry, Shou, but you gotta go to the doctor.” Shouyou shifted in his arms and buried his face in Yahaba’s armpit. “You are the weirdest little dude ever.” Yahaba glanced at the bedside tables, the one on the other side of the bed had an alarm clock, an empty glass, and a book. The one he was standing next to had a torn up copy of Volleyball Monthly and an orange prescription pill bottle. It was easy to guess who’s pillow Shouyou was sleeping under.

He ran a finger gently down the cat’s head and walked into the living room, “Do you miss, Tobio? Has he been gone all week or just the weekend? You’ll be fine though, Little Dude, he’ll be home soon.” He opened the top zip on the transporter and gently placed Shouyou in before zipping it back up. For a cat that was already a year old he reminded Yahaba so much of Sundae when she was only six months.

Shouyou let out a loud meow as Yahaba picked the transporter off of the coffee table, “Oh hush. Uncle Shigeru is going to take great care of you and Tobio should be home soon don’t worry.” He locked the apartment door and took the elevator back down to the main floor with Shouyou shouting the whole way. He left the building and held the key out to the man by the door, “Thank you.”

The man plucked the key from his hand and walked inside of the building. Yahaba blinked at the spot he stood a second ago before shaking his head and going to his car. He put Shouyou’s transporter in the passenger seat. When he turned on the car he started to regret all of his life choices. If Shouyou had been shouting before he was practically screaming now and it didn’t stop. Loud and long meows just kept coming from the small animal. Yahaba nearly wrecked the car..twice.

When Yahaba finally got to Animal Paws he was ready to scream in joy. He got out of the car and grabbed the transporter before he practically bolted inside the building.

“What the hell are you doing here, Yahaba? Is Sundae not well?”

Yahaba groaned and put the transporter on the counter, “This little devil is not my princess. Yuutarou called me this morning saying he and Tobio were both busy and couldn’t bring Shouyou in. But the little asshole has been screaming for thirty minutes! I’m going to pull my hair out, Shinji!”

“Well, to be fair, Yahaba, I don’t think you could even get a grip on your hair to do that.” His eye ran over Yahaba, “You’re filthy you know.”

He scowled, “Thanks, I’m aware. I didn’t get enough time to shower. Can you just do whatever you need to do so I can go home and scream?”

Watari laughed and started clicking away at his keyboard, “Come on, Shigeru, do you have to be such a drama queen? Shouyou couldn’t have been that bad. He’s not doing anything now.”

Yahaba glared at the transporter, “He hasn’t shut up since he woke up. I’m sure he’s just smelling. Yuutarou said he doesn’t do anything when he’s trying to smell.”

“Weird.” Watari walked around the desk and grabbed the transporter, “Are you going to stay or do you want to head out? You don’t really need to stay for a neuter.”

Yahaba shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets, “I’ll stay. I’m just going to go run errands after this so putting them off is always better.”

“You actually run errands? I’m surprised.” Watari placed the transporter on the scale, “I thought for sure that you would just get everything delivered.” Shouyou started meowing loudly again, “Holy shit, he is loud.”

“See! Anyways, I have to go pick up my groceries from the store and I have to go to dinner with my parents this weekend so I need a new suit and my dad would know if I ordered that online so those kinds of errands.” He sighed and leaned against a wall, “The monkey suit has to fit perfectly or else he’ll have a whine endlessly.”

Watari picked up the transporter and led Yahaba into one of the exam rooms, “I’m surprised you’re actually going to be clean for one. Can I get a selfie or snapchat for prosperity? I don’t think I’ve seen you clean and dressed well since high school.”

Yahaba glared, “I didn’t dress that badly in college!”

“Sure you didn’t.” Watari laughed loudly, “I’ll tell Kyoutani you’re ready for him.” He left and Yahaba swears his stupid little bald head muttered, “Your jeans had more holes in them than swiss cheese.”

Yahaba huffed and muttered, “I swear one day I will strangle you.”

“Woah, that’s no way to talk to a cat.”

He quickly turned around to face Kyoutani, “Not the cat! I mean yes he’s annoying but I wouldn’t strangle a cat. Your assistant on the other hand...well that’s a different story right now.”

Kyoutani smiled and Yahaba’s heart stopped. He had little crinkles by his eyes and a small dimple in his left cheek, it was the cutest thing he’s ever seen. “If I go out there right now is Watari going to have that weird little happy smirk on his face again?”

“Probably?” Yahaba crossed his arms over his chest, “He loves to tease me for some reason.” He fake sniffed, “I always thought he would be my forever friend but it looks like I should have left him in high school.”

The laugh that Kyoutani let out made Yahaba’s throat close up, it was too adorable, he whistled through his nose a little when he breathed in. Kyoutani opened the transporter and pulled out a screaming Shouyou, “You’ve known Watari since high school?”

Yahaba nodded and watched Shouyou stop screaming to sniff at Kyoutani, “Yeah. We played volleyball together.”

Kyoutani smiled as Shouyou started to scream in his face, “That’s cool that you guys are still friends. This little guy is a loud one. Wow.”

“He’s so loud I want to pull my hair out. Shouyou is the loudest cat I’ve ever had to deal with and he’s driving me insane.”

“Shouyou?” Kyoutani glanced down at the cat and stroked his head, “Weird. I went to college with a guy who had the same name. Is it weird if I say the cat kind of reminds me of him?”

Yahaba tried his best to hold in a laugh, “Did that guy play volleyball?”

Kyoutani snapped his gaze to him, “Yeah how did you know?”

Yahaba tried his best not to laugh but he couldn’t help it and double over, “Oh my god! The cat is literally named after Hinata Shouyou and you went to college with him. I’m going to die.”

“Wait, how do you know Hinata? And why did you name a cat after him?” Kyoutani was chuckling softly.

“We played against each other in high school a couple of times. I didn’t name the cat though. But it is a pretty good fit.” Yahaba stood up and wiped a few tears from his eyes, “I mean the cat is also small, loud, energetic, and ginger so it fits at least?”

Kyoutani smiled, “It does. Do you have any concerns other than the neutering?”

Yahaba shook his head, “Nope. Well, I guess he does this weird thing where he stops doing everything else to sniff new smells, like he just did, but he’s probably just concentrating on the new smells right?”

“Most likely yes and as long as he breathes fine normally, like he is now, there really isn’t anything concerning.”

Yahaba nodded, “Then it’s all good and the little dude just needs his testicles removed.”

He could tell that Kyoutani was trying to fight back a smile, “It shouldn’t take long he looks super healthy. If you want you could probably come back in an hour to pick him up but you don’t need to rush just pick him up, as long as it’s before six or else he’s stuck here for the night.”

“I’ll be back when I’m done with my errands. He won’t have to stay the night I promise.” Yahaba smiled and ran a hand through his hair, “Speaking of errands I have an appointment to get to so if you’ll excuse me.”

Kyoutani nodded, “Of course. We’ll see you later Yahaba.”

He nodded, “See you later.” He left the room and sent another glare to Watari.

“Oh come on, what the fuck could I have done this time?”

Yahaba smiled and pushed open the door, “Nothing, I just love you, Shinji, that’s all.”

“Bullshit!”

He laughed loudly as the door shut behind him. Fucking little shit.

 

* * *

 

“Dude, what happened? You look like absolute shit. And you’re wet.”

Yahaba glared and let the glass door of Animal Paws shut behind him, “Thanks, Shinji, that is exactly what I wanted to hear right now. Obviously, I got caught in that rain storm that just ended.”

Watari crossed his arms over his chest, “Alright, well that’s the wet part but why are you so pissed off? And late? We close in like five minutes.”

Yahaba sighed and leaned heavily on the counter, “My tailor’s shop assistant is a fucking asshole that’s why.” He slapped his hand on the desk as Watari opened his mouth, “That fucking twat tried to kick me out for twenty minutes and I kept telling him that I had an appointment and to fucking check his books. Twenty minutes! So finally I screamed at him and the manager came out and was all like Shigeru you’re ten minutes late what’s wrong? And the little fuck at the counter didn’t even have the audacity to look embarrassed when I called him out on it. And then the manager took me back after lecturing this dude for ten minutes so I could finally get fitted for my suit which took ten minutes, took another hour to try and pick the colors, and then since he’s a family friend we had to chat for three and a half hours because I couldn’t think of the polite way to say fuck off and let me leave. Plus, he kept trying to hook me up with his daughter! I mean she’s pretty and all but not enough to make be interested.”

“How pretty?”

“Shinji!”

“What? She’s pretty and her family isn’t rich why can’t I question how pretty she is?”

“They’re rich. Literally, that is the only shop where you can get a really good suit custom made.” Yahaba sighed and dropped his head on the counter, “You just want me to have an emotional break don’t you? You want me to go to dinner with Yuutarou and Tobio tonight and just break down crying because, on top of my stressful day, where I haven’t even had the chance to take a shower, I’m late for everything.”

Watari frowned and pat his shoulder, “I don’t want that. If I want anything it’s for you to take a shower. When was the last time you even had one?”

Yahaba shrugged and stood up, “I don’t know. What day of the week is it?”

“Monday.”

“Friday maybe?” he ran a hand through his hair and grimaced, “Maybe Thursday afternoon....before the Skype call.”

Watari pushed Yahaba off of the counter, “You’re disgusting! Although, I am surprised you don’t smell like BO.”

“Sundae does not like bad smells, but I do have a cologne that she really likes, so the body odor doesn’t come through.”

“You are a mess and you need to shower. You can’t bathe in cologne everyday.” He sighed and sat back in his chair, “You know you can shower more often than just when you need to be seen by people, right?”

“Shinji, you little fu-”

“Watari, you can head home now.” Yahaba jumped as Kyoutani poked his head out behind Watari, “Oh, Yahaba, you’re here. I didn’t know.”

“Sorry, Kyoutani!”

He smiled softly, “It’s fine Watari. Can you just get the paperwork ready?”

“Of course.”

“Yahaba if you wanna come with me we can get Shouyou and get you on your way.” He nodded and followed Kyoutani into one of the exam rooms, “Just give me a second.” Yahaba watched him leave through the back door and leaned on the examination counter.

He stood up straight when the door opened but dipped slightly as his knees got weak. Yahaba had failed to look at Kyoutani properly before, he was too busy glaring at Watari, and he was pissed he didn’t get his extra ten seconds of attractive vet viewing. The lab coat Kyoutani normally wore was missing, his lavender button up shirt had the sleeves rolled up just above his elbows with the collar button and the top two undone, and the cherry on top of the “let’s make Yahaba’s knees decide not to work” cake, he had a pair of wire-framed glasses perched on his nose. He looked even sexier than last time and Yahaba’s heart felt weaker.

Kyoutani put Shouyou’s transporter on the counter, “He took to surgery well. I think it was only twenty minutes after he woke up before he started meowing again.”

Yahaba smiled, “That’s kinda cute but I can imagine annoying. I’m sorry I was late. I honestly thought I was going to be done by two at the latest.”

“It’s completely fine, Yahaba.” That sweet sincere smile that graced his face could kill, “Life happens and sometimes we don’t always get where we wanted too when we want to. Besides, Watari and I were still here and you got here before closing. So everything is completely fine.”

“Thank you for understanding.” Yahaba grabbed the transporter, “But I should get going so you can enjoy your evening.”

“Have a nice night, Yahaba.”

Yahaba nodded and opened the door, “You too.” He walked into the lobby and over to Watari, “Fucking kill me.”

Watari poked his cheek, “Take a bath that will probably kill you.” Yahaba tsked and shot him a glared. “So do you want to just take the bill to Yuutarou? Or are you going to make me mail it?”

Yahaba rolled his eyes and held out his hand, “I’ll take it.”

“Thank you!” Watari smiled and slapped the paper into his hand, “Tell Yuutarou that if we are closed, and he isn’t paying with a card, that he can just put the payment in an envelope with his name and Shouyou’s in the vertical mailbox out front.”

Yahaba dropped his jaw, “You expect me to remember that?”

Watari laughed loudly, “No! That is why I also wrote it on the sticky note paper clipped to the front of the bill. Have a nice night Shigeru!”

“You too, you little dick.” Yahaba smiled and quickly ran out of the building and to his car.

The drive back to Kindaichi’s apartment building was much quieter, Shouyou fell asleep, but because of the time the traffic was an absolute nightmare. The normal twenty minutes drive ended up taking fifty and Shouyou started screaming with ten minutes left. When he pulled into the guest parking Yahaba turned off the car and dropped his head on the top on the steering wheel. For doing almost nothing all day he was mentally exhausted and starving but the latter is his own fault for not eating.

Yahaba sighed heavily and got out of the car after grabbing the transporter. He fumbled momentarily with the keys as he tried to figure out which was for the building. When he finally got the door unlocked he shuffled inside and to the elevator. He walked over to Kindaichi’s apartment and unlocked the door.

“What the hell?” He watched as Kindaichi walked into the entryway from the kitchen, “Oh Yahaba. Oh shit! I forgot th-”

“Shouyou?!” Yahaba looked away from Kindaichi as Kageyama hopped into the room. Yahaba held out the transporter after Shouyou screamed loudly. Kageyama took it from him and shuffled into the livingroom. He opened it quickly and pulled Shouyou to his chest and kissed his cheek before he sat on the couch and snuggled the cat closely. It was adorable if not a little weird. Kageyama’s glares might have given Yahaba a few nightmares in high school. He set the spare keys back in the bowl and set the bill next to it.

Yahaba turned back to Kindaichi as he started to speak, “I uh forgot to call you and ask if you were ok just eating here instead of out...but it looks like you haven’t had the chance to shower so…”

Yahaba smiled softly, “I’m exhausted and if you are cooking I am one hundred percent down with eating here.”

“Awesome...It’s kind of almost done, since I forgot to call you, so you can come in the kitchen with me if you want.”

Yahaba nodded and followed him into the kitchen, “You have a really nice place. It’s ten times better than Shinji’s honestly.”

“Watari’s place can’t be that bad. You have to be exaggerating.”

Yahaba shook his head and sat down at the small table set to the side of the room, “I’m not. His place is barely even classified as a studio. In fact, the building owner told me that they barely added a bathroom to the apartments on that floor, because they expected it to be student housing, they were just going to have a shared bathroom like a dorm building. So yes, your place is ten times better.”

Kindaichi laughed a little awkwardly, “Well thank you. I’m sure it’s still dodgy compared to your place or Iwaizumi’s.”

“Can you really compare penthouses to apartments though?” Yahaba frowned and ran a hand down his face, “That sounded really douchey and not what I meant for it to sound like.”

Kindaichi smiled and ruffled around in the cabinets, “No, I understand what you mean. It’s kind of like comparing a normal house to a house in a gated community. On the surface they’re the same but the one in the gated community is going to be a lot different.”

Yahaba smiled and ran a hand through his hair, “I knew there was a reason you were my favorite junior.”

“What?” He come to the table with dishes in his hands, “Don’t say things like that, Yahaba. It’s not nice to lie to people.”

“It’s not a lie.” Yahaba frowned as Kindaichi stared at the table as he set it, “You were a good junior and a great senior to the first years. You’re a good person and you need to believe in that a little more, Yuutarou.”

The small blush that landed on his cheeks brought joy to Yahaba’s heart, “Thank you, Yahaba.” He stood up and walked to the doorway, “Tobio, get in here.” He turned back to Yahaba, “Are you cool with a beer? I kind of forgot to get groceries this weekend so we only have water, beer, or milk.”

Yahaba nodded, “Beer is cool with me.” Kindaichi turned to the fridge and grabbed two beers and set them on the table. He opened a drawer and handed a bottle opener to Yahaba. “Thank you.”

Kageyama shuffled into the kitchen, with Shouyou still cuddled in his arms.

Kindaichi frowned as he brought the food to the table, “Tobio, do you have to bring Shouyou to the table tonight? We have a guest.”

“It’s alright. Sundae usually sits on the table in front of my food when I sit at the table.”

Kageyama heavily sat at the table and set Shouyou in his lap, “If Yahaba is fine with it Shouyou should get to stay.”

Kindaichi sighed and sat next to him after placing a glass of milk on the table, “Fine, but just because he’s finally shut up. He was awful all weekend.”

“Wait, are you trying to say that Shouyou doesn’t always yell? Because he was annoying as crap on the drive back here.”

Kageyama glared at Yahaba and covered Shouyou’s ears. Kindaichi chuckled and started to serve the food, “Well, if Tobio is here Shouyou is perfectly quiet or he’s just purring really loudly but that’s a lot easier to block out than the meows when Tobio is gone.”

“Don’t make him sound annoying, Yuu! Shouyou is a great cat.” Tobio muttered as Shouyou stood in his lap and stretched himself out by placing his hands on one of Kageyama’s shoulders. “Look at how adorable he is.”

Kindaichi smiled softly, “He’s only adorable for you. I had to shut him out of the bedroom this weekend because he would sit on your pillow and scream in my face.” Kindaichi glanced at Yahaba and frowned, “What’s the face for Yahaba? Is the food that bad?”

Yahaba quickly shook his head, “No! Your cooking is amazing. I’m just wondering a couple of things.”

“Tobio actually made it. I was just watching it at the end. What’s spinning in your head?”

Yahaba chewed on his bottom lip, trying to think of the best way to phrase his question, “Well, I just kind of noticed some things I thought were a little weird. You don’t have to answer if you don’t feel comfortable. It’s honestly none of my business...It’s just I never really thought that you would be the type to get a cat...um Shouyou was hidden in your bedroom when I came to pick him up and I noticed that ripped up magazine...and...um.” He sighed and ran a hand down his face, “Tobio is walking weird.”

Kageyama froze and snapped his gaze to Kindaichi, “You didn’t tell anyone?”

He held his hands up, “I didn’t think it was my place to tell! Especially to my high school volleyball team. I figured if it was important enough you would tell people when you were ready.”

Kageyama pouted and put all of his attention on Shouyou, “It’s not that important. You just tell Yahaba and you can tell anyone else too if need be.”

Yahaba let his eyes flit between the two of them, “Tell me what?”

Kindaichi sighed, “The whole story.” He slouched in his seat and stared at the table. “So some of this you’re going to think isn’t important but it kind of is or you’ll just ask after anyways so just bare with me alright?” Yahaba nodded quickly before he continued. “So Tobio and I accidently met again in college. We had a couple of the annoyingly huge freshmen lecture classes together but of course we didn’t really see each other until volleyball tryouts. We were the only freshmen who even tried out so they stuck us together a lot and as we were trying to build trust in eachother we kind of build a weird friendship too.”

“Don’t make it sound awful!”

“You can’t deny that things were still tense between us from middle school and then being on different teams in high school, Tobio.” Kageyama frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. Kindaichi laughed and kissed his cheek quickly, “Sorry. Anyways, at the end of the year party we kind of started dating and everything was fine. During our second year Tobio even got scouted for the national team. After we graduated we got this apartment and things were really good. Tobio was even added to the olympic roster...But about six mon-”

“Seven months, one week, and three days.”

Yahaba and Kindaichi both turned to look at Kageyama even though his attention was solely on Shouyou.

“I guess that long ago. Uh, Tobio was on his way home from practice and he was walking across the street and a car didn’t wait long enough and turned and it hit his leg. The accident broke his patella and tore a few tendons and somehow still managed to dislocate his knee. He had to have some pretty extreme surgery and he was in a wheelchair for a while. I noticed that he was kind of closing in on himself and I accidently came home to him crying more often than either of us wanted.

“One day, when I was coming back from work, a little orange blur caught my attention in a window. Turns out it was an animal shelter and our little Shouyou was crazily running across the pen he was in. So I went in and just watched him for a little bit because he was cute and he seemed like Hinata. I knew that Hinata was Tobio’s first strong friend so I thought that since I didn’t have a way to bring the real Hinata to him maybe a cat like him could help him feel a little better. So I adopted him and named him Shouyou and brought him home.

“As the days passed Shouyou got super attached to Tobio and Tobio to Shouyou. Tobio slowly came back to be more of his normal self. Shouyou was really a help when he started physical therapy last month. The stress and exhaustion from it made him cranky b-”

“I was not cranky!”

“Babe, you were worse than cranky. Somehow, though ten minutes with Shouyou just made him better to be around. So I’m really glad I adopted him. And an extra reason I named the cat Shouyou was because Tobio’s mom let it slip that he had a crush on Hinata in high school so I did it as a joke and to tease him a little.”

“Yuutarou! That didn’t need to be added at all!” Kageyama sputtered and stared at him with wide eyes.

Kindaichi laughed, “But it’s so cute, Tobio!”

He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, “What like your crush on Iwaizumi?”

“Like you didn’t have a crush on him in middle school?”

Yahaba laughed and held up his hands, “Boys, let’s be real. Everyone has had a crush on Iwaizumi at some point. I’m pretty sure even Shinji had a crush on him.”

Kindaichi shrugged and sighed, “I guess that’s true. Anyways that’s why we have the cat and why Tobio is walking weird. He’s still going to PT twice a week but it’s getting better! Plus, he got a job coaching a high school team not too long ago, so that’s good too.”

Yahaba nodded, “But what’s up with the magazine?”

Kageyama sighed and pulled his phone out of his pocket, “That issue of Volleyball Monthly was about the olympic team. It was published the day after my accident so they couldn’t pull it.” He held his phone out to Yahaba and idly played with one of Shouyou’s paws.

Yahaba took the phone and looked at the picture. It was the cover of the magazine, where Kageyama stood on the cover in the national team’s jersey with a volleyball held between his side and forearm just above his hip, with a smirk on his face looking down at the camera. Honestly he looked pretty hot. Yahaba slid the phone back over to him, “I get it.”

Kageyama shrugged, “It’s just a stupid therapy that I do when I get upset about being removed from the team. My doctors said that it’s unlikely that I’ll ever be able to play competitive sports again.”

“That must be mentally taxing at times.”

“It’s getting easier to accept.” He stood up, still holding Shouyou, “I’m really tired from this weekend. I’m going to go to bed early. Please excuse me.” He quickly kissed Kindaichi before shuffling out of the room.

Yahaba turned to Kindaichi after he left, “I can see why you guys have such a good relationship. You’ve already had rocky times made it through them.”

Kindaichi smiled softly and shrugged, “The hard times always pass. It’s just nice to have someone to come home to that you can talk to easily. Even when Tobio was having a hard time being open about his injury and closed off he still would sit on the couch with me and just listen to anything I had to say. It was sweet.”

Yahaba smiled and stood up, “I’m gonna vomit you two are so sweet. Anyways, I would stay and help clean up but Sundae only had breakfast so I need to feed her before she gets pissed. Thank you for having me for dinner.” He started to leave, “Wait, I forgot to tell you. I left the bill by the spare keys. Shinji left instructions for what to do.”

Kindaichi smiled and followed him to the door, “It’s alright we have a dishwasher so I don’t care. Go see your baby. Thank you for taking Shouyou in today...and bringing him back.”

“It wasn’t a problem. Hopefully I’ll see you Thursday on the Skype call.” Yahaba thanked Kindaichi once more before leaving.

When Yahaba got home he fed Sundae and fell face first on his bed, quickly falling asleep in his clothes.


	3. Jelly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a shit ton of dialogue and I'm only slightly sorry.

Thursday nights where...what’s a nice way to put it? Internesting? That’s probably the nicest way to put. The most realistic would be pure torture in video call. Sure, the calls with the old team always started out nice, but at some point Iwaizumi and Oikawa would start fighting about something stupid, Matsuwaka and Hanamaki would start making fun of them, Kindaichi and Kunimi would completely ignore everyone else, and Watari would start making fun of Yahaba. It was a great joy, and Yahaba wished every week that he had a reason not to answer the call. He never had a reason.

So here he was, another Thursday night, in his office, skyping the team. It was even already to the part of the night where Iwaizumi and Oikawa are fighting. Yahaba doesn’t really remember what it started about this time but he was pretty sure it had to do with Oikawa’s job and how he isn’t get enough sleep...or something along those lines. That is usually where the fights started at least. Next, it would probably escalate to Oikawa’s lack of commitment with his boyfriend. Frankly, Yahaba was tired of hearing it but watching the vein in Iwaizumi’s forehead pop out was kind of funny...and kind of hot but he wasn’t going to do anything about that latter thought.

Yahaba was sitting there trying to come up with a reason to log off of the call but he was unable to think of one, typical. Almost every excuse he could come up with he knew his friends wouldn’t buy it. He sighed and leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. He will come up with something. He fucking will before Watari starts making fun of his for not leaving the house. Even though he just left Monday.

“Uh, guys?” Yahaba slid his gaze to the small square that held Kindaichi’s face, “Tobio just got home so I’m gonna log off and spend some time with him.”

Yahaba jumped as a loud thud sounded through his headphones. He caught Kageyama walking, well more limping, in the background of Kindaichi’s square before a loud, “Tobio-chan?!” Yahaba swears everyone’s eyes went to there setting of Oikawa in a split second. Oikawa coughed slightly and adjusted in his seat, “W-why doesn’t Tobio-chan join us for a little while? It’s not like he’s a stranger to us. Plus boyfriends should always be welcome on chats.”

“Wait! I have some problems with that last statement.” Matsuwaka cut in, “You’re saying that if Watari ever gets the balls to ask out that dog walker-”

“How do you know about her?!”

“Yahaba. And if they where start dating that she isn’t welcome to the calls? Also what about my fiance? Is he unwelcome to these? Plus, I think everyone will boycott these chats if your boyfriend and Hajime’s boyfriend are ever here at the same time. That is worse than pure torture.”

“Yeah I agree with your boyfriends never being on chat together,” Hanamaki muttered.

Oikawa puffed out his cheeks, “The chat is open to significant others and I’m not even that serious with my boyfriend so that won’t be a problem. We don’t even consider each other boyfriends we’re much closer to fuck buddies.”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, “The only reason you aren’t serious is because you’re too big of a chicken shit to finally move in with him. You’ve been ‘fuck buddies’ for three years!” Iwaizumi actually did the finger quotes. “Either break up with him or move in together already! He’s so fucking in love with you I’m sick of hearing about it.”

“He is not in love with me!”

Yahaba rolled his eyes. There’s the second part of the Iwaizumi Oikawa fights. He glanced up at movement in Kindaichi’s square and saw Kageyama enter the frame again. It looked like he was sitting on Kindaichi’s lap and Kindaichi had a stupidly fond look on his stupid face. It was adorable and uncalled for.

“Shut up, Tooru! I think we’re all missing or ignoring something that could be very important,” Yahaba watched as Iwaizumi shifted, “Tobio, why the hell are you limping?”

“Wait, Tobio, before you choose to either answer that or not. I need to ask Yahaba a question and log off. I have an early shift tomorrow and four needy cats.” Yahaba looked at Kunimi’s face.

“When did you and Tobio-chan become friends?”

“When he started to date Yuutarou. We spend so much time together we kind of had to at least tolerate each other’s boyfriends. Anyways, Kenma and I made a mistake...We made an appointment for Jelly’s next weight check up before we got our work schedules and we are the only two at the library...basically all day. Everyone else has graduations and family vacations. Is there any way that you could take her to the vet tomorrow?”

Yahaba sighed after he heard Watari cackle, the little fuck. “I suppose I can. What time is the appointment?”

“Ten.”

Watari was howling with laughter at this point. Yahaba groaned and rubbed his face, “How am I going to get the cat?”

“Kunimi, if you want to drop Jelly off with me before you go to work. I can take her to Yahaba’s before I leave.”

“You’re up by five thirty Iwaizumi?”

He laughed, “Yeah. I’m normally making breakfast at that point. Some of us actually get up and go for runs in the morning.”

“Not all of us are dating personal trainers.” Kunimi mumbled. “Some of us date librarians. If I can leave Jelly with you I would appreciate it...Just don’t let your dogs eat her. She’s too fat to defend herself against those big slob monsters.”

“They won’t eat her. They love Sundae if anything, so I’m sure they’ll like Jelly.”

“Everyone loves Sundae,” Yahaba quickly cut in, “She is the best cat in the world.”

“Please set an alarm Yahaba.”

Yahaba rolled his eyes and grabbed his phone, “There it’s done, for nine. Jelly will get to her appointment on time.”

“Thank you.” Kunimi gave a small wave, “I’m gonna log off. I hope you’re doing well, Tobio.” And then he disappeared.

Yahaba watched as Kindaichi squeezed Kageyama close to side and muttered something to him. He watched as Kageyama deflated before he shook his head and sighed, “I should just tell them. Everyone will know soon enough anyways. It can’t be kept quiet for too much longer.” He watched Kageyama fidget for half a minute.

“Do you want me to say it?”

Kageyama shook his head, “No, I think I can do it this time.”

“This time? Who else got to know?” Iwaizumi questioned quickly.

“I found out Monday.” Yahaba muttered. He glanced to the side of his desk and grabbed a piece of the pizza he ordered for dinner.

“Why did Shi-chan get to find out before me? Tobio-chan I’m your actual senpai! We had a very touching reconnection in your third year of highschool!”

“Yahaba only found out Monday, Oikawa. He did us a favor so we made him dinner and it’s kind of impossible to hide a limp.” Kindaichi placed his chin on Kageyama’s shoulder and muttered, “Besides, it is Tobio’s choice when, where, and if he tells anyone at all.”

“Can you just stop being cute and either tell us or move on to a different subject? You’re making some of us feel like lonely losers,” Watari mumbled.

Yahaba frowned slightly. He didn’t want to agree but it was true. He was always happy for his friends but he hated not having anyone to be annoyingly cute with sometimes. He could always be annoyingly cute with Sundae...there is a strong possibility that that’s all that his Instagram is. Yahaba sighed softly before he watched Kageyama stumble his way through explaining his injury with pinched faces and wringing hands.

“It’s Ushiwaka’s fault isn’t it Tobio-chan?”

“Wh-? Oikawa-san why would you jump to that? Wakatoshi-san wasn’t even at practice that day he was being interviewed!”

“Tobio-chan!” Oikawa placed a hand over his heart, “What are you even saying? Obviously, had Ushiwaka been there, he would have had you stay back for extra practice and then you wouldn’t have been in that crosswalk at that time. Also why are you calling him by his first name? You don’t even call me by my first name!”

Kageyama sighed, “Whether or not Wakatoshi-san was there doesn’t matter I got injured and there isn’t anything that is going to change that. Had he been at practice he still probably wouldn’t have stayed behind because it was his anniversary.”

“I thought that you finally put everything behind you and Ushijima?”

Oikawa clicked his tongue and crossed his arms over his chest, “Makki, just because I’ve put school behind me and I got along with Ushiwaka in university...and we chat when we see each other at the same coffee shop, that doesn’t mean that I won’t find someone to beat the hell out of him if he hurts my precious kouhai, Tobio-chan.”

“Oikawa, Ushijima was actually the first one from the team to show up to the hospital when the team was told. He actually got there before I could.”

“Wait what?” Oikawa dropped his arms and leaned forward in his seat, “Explain.”

Kageyama sighed and turned to the screen, “My first emergency contact is my coach. Its one of the rules along with calling all team members by first name because ‘we’re a family now’. So he told the team and Wakatoshi-san and Shirabu-san canceled their movie plans and came to the hospital until Yuutarou could be there with me.”

Oikawa gasped loudly, “Is he trying to show me up? I’m really not above paying someone to fight him.”

“Shut up, Shittykawa. You should just be thankful that someone was there with Tobio. You know how much volleyball means to him, do you really think that after finding out that he’d be unlikely to play again, something you of all people should understand, that he would readily just call up everyone and tell them?”

“Mean Iwa-chan. But point taken.”

“So...how exactly are you handling things, Kageyama?” Yahaba held in a laugh at Kageyama’s ruffled, wide eyed look. “I just...me and my boyfriend both know some pretty good therapists if you ever need someone to talk to.”

Kageyama looked down, “Uh, thank you, Matsuwaka-san, but I think I’m ok now. This summer...it was going to be my chance to finally go to the olympics, and as the starting setter. I’ll be ok though. There’s more to life than just volleyball...even if it took me a long time to realize that. It’ll always be hard to deal with losing that, but I’ll move on.” Kageyama stood up, “I’ve got a headache, so I’m gonna go to bed.”

“I’m gonna go to. I’ll talk to you guys next week,” Kindaichi gave a quick wave before shutting his laptop.

“They’re gonna bone.”

“Watachi!”

Yahaba held in a laugh as Watari threw his hands in the air, “Well they are!”

“Am I the only one who thinks that they are more likely going to have an intense snuggle fest until they both pass out?”

“I’m with you Makki!”

“That’s just because you get creeped out when you think of any of us having sex, Tooru.”

“None of you are having sex, Mattsun! No one in this chat is having sex or has had sex and will never have sex. Nuh-ah!”

“You literally just said you had a fuck buddy, Shittykawa.”

“Well I’m gonna go masturbate or I’m gonna have to sit here and eat the rest of this pizza but I really would like to save the rest for breakfast so bye!”

“Shi-chan, don’t you dare say things like that to me!”

Yahaba smirked and quickly closed the call. He leaned back in his seat and sighed heavily. He loved his friends, he really did, but they’re so weird and they talk in circles so much that he gets headaches almost every Thursday. Plus Oikawa is totally fucking lying. Everyone knows that he fucks his ‘fuck buddy’ after dinner everyday and at least one other time on his off days. At a minimum.

Yahaba turned off his computer and stood up; he stretched and let out one last sigh. He walked into the living room and scooped Sundae into his arms, “Are you ready to go to bed, Princess?” He smiled when Sundae rubbed her cheek on his chin, “I’ll take that as a yes.” He walked into his bedroom and placed Sundae onto the extra pillow. He quickly stripped down to his boxers and crawled into bed, “Goodnight Sundae.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek quickly.

 

* * *

 

Yahaba had not been excited to wake up the next day. He knew it was going to be annoying and loud from his awful alarm clock. The grating noise was going to drive him to drink and he knew it. He angrily rolled to his side to grab his phone, he picked it up and quickly turned the alarm off. Yahaba fell back onto this back and ran a hand down his face with a soft groan. People did not deserve the torture of being awake in the morning. He draped an arm over his eyes and honestly, he nearly fell asleep again. Thankfully, there was a small double tap on his cheek.

Yahaba moved his arm and glanced over at Sundae, “Why do you have to understand that loud noises mean I have to get up?” He sat up and scooped her into his arms before kissing her cheek, “You are way too smart for your own good, Princess.” He sighed and stroked her head, “You are so lucky I love the crap out of you. Otherwise you would be in so much trouble right now.”

He slid out of bed and walked into the kitchen with Sundae in his arms. He set her on the counter and frowned, “Where are your bowls? Oh.” He chuckled and itched her back, “Jelly is here. Probably can’t eat before the appointment or something. I had better thank Iwaizumi.” Yahaba lightly tapped Sundae’s nose, “You play well with Jelly until I get her in her carrier, alright?” He kissed her cheek quickly and walked to the bathroom.

After showering and dressing, Yahaba had a solid five minutes to find Jelly and pack her up, to get her in the car. Now to find the wee fatty. He checked the kitchen first, thinking she might have smelt Sundae’s food in the cupboard, but she wasn’t there. He checked the living room, the formal dining room, his bedroom, Sundae’s playroom, both of the bathrooms, the entry way, where she wasn’t found in her carrier, but there was a note on top he would have to read later. Yahaba frowned and walked into his office where he found the chubby Norwegian Forest cat, she was half sat on his desk chair but with one front paw on his desk, and the other trying to paw open his pizza box.

He raced over and scooped her into his arms, “Hey now, Miss Jelly, that isn’t for you. Holy crap you are one fat cat.” He shifted her in his arms and walked out of the office, “I can’t believe you were trying to eat pizza. There wasn’t even any meat on it.” Yahaba sighed and went to the entryway and put Jelly in her carrier. He quickly went back to the kitchen and found Sundae’s bowls before he filled them and placed them back on the floor. Sundae was not going to starve on his watch.

Yahaba went back to the entry way, snatched the note off of the carrier and shoved it in his pocket, slipped on his shoes, and grabbed Jelly’s carrier. He loaded Jelly into his car and started the journey to the clinic.

When Yahaba stepped inside of the clinic he had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. He barely made it.

“Holy shit! You look like a normal human!”

“Well that’s just fucking rude, Shinji.” Yahaba walked over to the counter and put Jelly’s carrier on top, “This is one fat cat and I do not like carrying her.”

Watari rolled his eyes, “You only had to carry her from your car in here.” He grabbed a clipboard and walked around the counter, “Honestly though, you do look really good. Did you dress well for a reason?” He wiggled his eyebrows at Yahaba before grabbing Jelly’s carrier, “I won’t judge.”

Yahaba shoved his shoulder slightly, “I didn’t dress up at all, fuck you. I’m literally just swearing and t-shirt and shorts how is that dressed up?”

“Well,” Watari laughed, “your clothes aren’t stained, torn, or have weird holes in them.” He put the carrier on the scale and looked at him, “And your hair is combed without dust in it. Your shoes are actually clean too. So yes for you this is dressed up.”

“I literally have suits! And I’m getting another one made!” Yahaba groaned, “Shit I have to go pick that up today.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “Anyways this is not dressed up, this is planning on sitting on the couch and binge watching some weird TV show until the wee hours of the morning.” He crossed his arms over his chest, “I do not look as badly as you think I do.”

“Oh I don’t think you look bad.” Watari muttered as he picked up Jelly’s carrier, “I just think that on days you need to show up here you tend to not notice how shitty you look or you don’t have the time to present yourself. Also I will be getting a photo of you in the suit right? I want to frame in and put it on my desk so when you show up looking a mess I can look at the photo and remember that my best friend actually does have some taste and the ability to dress well. And he’s actually hot.”

Yahaba sighed and slumped onto the bench, “Why the fuck would I do that? Also why does it matter what I look like when I show up here? I’m not looking to impress anyone especially you and your occasional gay sounding compliments. Seriously are you guy or just that comfortable with yourself? Because I get a little confused by it.” He crossed his arms over his chest, “I just want to go home and eat my pizza.”

Watari sighed and turned to Yahaba before reaching out and messing with his hair, “I’m so extremely comfortable with myself that I can say guys are hot and not want to actually date or sleep with them. And I may want a photo of you here looking all fancy for a nicer reason but I’m not telling you that now.” He smirked, “But if you do happen to share a photo with me...I have a bit of information that you will really love and I’ll actually give it to you. If I get that photo.”

He glanced up at him, “Why do I feel like you’re lying to me to get that photo?”

Watari cupped his cheeks, “Because you don’t have a trusting personality and you slightly hate me. I am ok with that though.”

Yahaba laughed and pushed Watari’s hands off of his face, “Fine I’ll trust you. This one time. Depending on how dinner goes tomorrow...we’ll see if you get that photo or not.”

“Well that’s all I can ask for. Now let’s get wobbly Jelly out so I can get her actual weight written down.” Watari opened the carrier and pulled the cat out before plopping her in Yahaba’s lap, “This is your child for the day, love her.”

Yahaba wrapped his arms around Jelly, “I do love her but she’s fat and standing right on the bone and it actually hurts.”

Watari shrugged and grabbed the carrier, “That isn’t my problem now is it?” He snickered and quickly left the room.

Yahaba frowned and ran his hand along Jelly’s back, “At least you're nice to me sweet girl. But you’re so chunky you’re going to hurt yourself.”

Watari popped back in the placed the carrier next to Yahaba, “Doctor should be in in a minute. Be good.”

He rolled eyes and set Jelly on the counter, “What a weird bald man.” Jelly flopped down on her side and stretched out before she reached out and lightly dug her claws into his hand and pulled it to her face. Yahaba chuckled and stroked her cheek, “Well that’s a cute trick.” He placed his spare arm on the counter and rest his cheek on it, “Akira shouldn’t have a cat as cute as you. He probably doesn’t appreciate you enough. I bet Kenma does though.” He hummed softly and lightly tapped her nose before rubbing her cheek again.

“Woah.”

Yahaba jumped back and looked at Kyoutani, “What? What’s wrong?”

Kyoutani shook his head, “Nothing, Yahaba. Um, you just kind of shocked me a little. You look really nice and uh...ah w-what are you doing here exactly?”

His cheeks heated slightly before he swallowed, “Akira-Uh...Kunimi couldn’t make it today. He had to work and couldn’t get out of it.”

Kyoutani nodded and walked over to the counter, “Fair enough. So how has little Jelly been handling eating and all of that?”

“Uh...I don-oh wait.” Yahaba took the note out of his pocket, “This might actually say. Uh, all cats are fed two times a day. Jelly gets put in the bathroom alone with her interactive eating bowl so she doesn’t eat too quickly or the other cats’ food. She plays an hour in the morning and one at night. Please take Jelly back to yours I’ll bring you dinner when I pick her up...Shit sorry that part was for me. I did not read that before I came here.”

The laugh that Kyoutani let out let left him feeling slightly queasy in the best way possible, “That’s fine.” He straightened up and ran his hands over Jelly, “She’s being fed correctly for her problems. The blood work from last time came up fine so she doesn’t have a thyroid problem, like I was concerned about, or anything else, she just gained weight from eating too quickly, most likely.” He glanced up at Yahaba, “I think the only thing more that can be done is diet food. This would only be temporary, until she’s down to a better weight and then she can go back on the normal food the other cats are on, but Jelly will probably still need to eat in a different room because she could give up on the interactive feeder and just eat from one of the other cats’ bowls. Does that make sense?”

Yahaba stared at him for a minute before he nodded, “Yes. I...completely have that all locked into my head and it is completely understood.”

Kyoutani laughed and opened a cabinet, “I’ll write it down for you.” He placed a piece of paper on the counter and pulled a pen out of his pocket, “If you want, we have diet food here but don’t feel the need to buy it here, there’s very few cat foods that aren’t good to buy, which I did list, just so Jelly gets something good.” He held the paper out to Yahaba. “She’s actually lost about a half a pound too.”

He smiled and took the paper, “Thank you so much.” He laughed and ran a hand through his hair, “At least there’s been a bit of progression. I’m glad about that.”

“Well that’s good.” Kyoutani smiled softly and reached for the carrier, “I don’t think she’ll need another weight check in until her normal yearly check up. I did add that to the note for you.”

Yahaba laughed and put Jelly in the carrier, “Thank you.” He picked up the carrier, “Well, as it seems I’ve been coming her more often than I thought, I imagine I’ll be seeing you fairly soon.”

Kyoutani’s small chuckled filled the room, “I hope it’s not for any emergencies at least.” He walked over to the door and opened it, “I hope you have a nice weekend, Yahaba.”

“You too.” He left the room and swears, swears to god, that he heard a mumble of ‘cute’ he could totally be wrong but he swears he’s right. But it could be about Jelly and not him. So who knows. Definitely not him.

Yahaba went over to Watari before draping himself over the counter, “Oh my god please kill me. Shinji, if you love me you will kill me.”

Watari hummed and pat the top of Yahaba’s head, “What’s wrong with you?”

Yahaba lifted his head to look at him, “He’s too cute. And adorable. And hot. Fuck I would be ok with him throwing me down and fucking me. Fuck I bet he would be a great man handler.” He whined and dropped his head back onto the counter, “I want him.”

“Get the fuck off of my desk.” Wateri groaned and pushed at Yahaba’s shoulders, “You’re still talking about my boss and that’s creepy.”

He rolled his eyes and stood up straight, “Alright. Just give me the bill so I can pick up my suit and go home. It’s my day off work so I would like to enjoy it.”

“Oh? You’ve been writing this week have you?”

Yahaba shifted on his feet, “Well...no but still I always take Fridays off to spend them with Sundae. I’m not stopping that just because I didn’t actually do any real work this week. That would be stupid and unfair to Sundae.”

“You take three days a week off when you pretty much just sit at your computer all day?” Watari hummed and shrugged, “I guess you also spend a good chunk of time laying on the floor and your couch. Who am I to judge?”

“You seem to be judging pretty easily right now, Shinji.” He sighed and looked at him, “I’m just stuck right now. I’ll get out of it eventually but I just can’t actually put any thoughts into words. It really bothers me.”

Watari smiled softly and held out the bill, “It’s fine. You’ll get there one day and you’ll write an awesome novel and I’ll be eating a big slice of humble pie and you’ll be buying Tuesday dinners for the rest of our lives. Just go get your suit and go home.”

Yahaba smiled and leaned over the counter to kiss Watari’s forehead. He snatched the bill and started towards the door, “Thanks, Shinji! See you at least on Tuesday!”

After he got Jelly back in the car, he drove to his tailor to pick up his suit. Even though it wasn’t hot, and still early spring, he left the car running for Jelly. She is constantly wearing a fur coat, a little AC won’t hurt. It was probably a smart idea since it ended up taking slightly over ten minutes to actually get his suit. The little fuck, assisant was being a little dick again. He was very tempted to find a new tailor, but his father would know if he showed up in a suit made by someone else.

He nearly drove back to his apartment angrily, but honestly, an angry Kenma is more terrifying than any other person could be annoying. When he got back home he placed Jelly’s carrier in the entry way, with the note and bill on top, he went to the kitchen and put Sundae’s food bowl on the counter, he really doubted that Jelly could jump that high on her own. He opened Jelly’s carrier before he grabbed the pizza box from his office. Yahaba went back to the kitchen and grabbed a soda before throwing himself down on his couch.

Netflix and pizza was about to happen and it was gonna be awesome, but before he could even grab his first slice of pizza, Jelly climbed up onto the couch and sat down in his lap, “I’m not feeding you my pizza so you can sit down and take a nap like Sundae. See she’s all the way in that window and sleeping like a good little cat.” He tapped her nose and reached over her for a slice of pizza. As he brought it towards his mouth to take a bite, Jelly reached up with one of her paws and tried to pull his hand down to her mouth.

Yahaba laughed and ran a hand down her back, “Hey now, that isn’t for you miss. You’re on a special diet starting tomorrow and I’m not going to be the one to allow you to eat pizza.” He tried to take another bite but Jelly tried to take his hand again. “Alright now, you aren’t going to be sitting on my lap while I eat then.” He lifted Jelly to the side and pulled his knees up to his chest, “You sit there and enjoy yourself.” He pointed his finger at her until she layed down on his feet. He turned his head away from her and turned on Netflix. Time to watch some cringe worthy show.

 

* * *

 

At some point he must have fallen asleep because the next thing Yahaba knew his front door was slamming shut, extremely loudly. He stretched his back and rubbed his eyes, “I don’t have any chips.”

“I don’t want your food Yahaba.” Yahaba glanced sideways to see Kunimi walking into his living room, “It seems like Jelly made herself at home.”

Yahaba looked down at his lap to see Jelly curled up with her face covered by her tail, “I think she’s been on me all afternoon. She’s very warm.”

Kunimi placed a plastic bag on his coffee table, “There’s Thai food and Kenma insisted that I get you cake too. I don’t know why but there is one.” He leaned down and picked Jelly off of his lap, “How did the appointment go?”

“Pretty good,” Yahaba yawned and scratched his belly, “There’s a note on her carrier along with the bill because I didn’t remember everything he said when he was done saying it. Thanks for the food though and Kenma is a god send because I’m going to need sweets to actually get myself to sleep tonight.”

Kunimi nodded, “Does that have anything to do with the fancy garmet bag in your entryway?”

“Yeah. I have to go to dinner with my parents tomorrow.” He sat up and ran a hand through his hair, “My dad is probably just going to lecture me the whole time and then my mom is going to try and set me up with someone or try and make me go to speed dating.”

“Thank sucks.” Kunimi pushed Yahaba’s legs off of the couch and sat next to him, “Is it worse to go or skip out?”

Yahaba laughed and dropped his head on Kunimi’s shoulder, “One time I didn’t go to dinner with my parents when I was in college and they froze my accounts. I had finals and so many projects and papers and they didn’t unfreeze my accounts until I had dinner with them. So unless I want to die I need to go to dinner with them.”

“Your parents have control over your accounts?”

“Yeah. They said until I make a reasonable amount of money a year they have control over my accounts so I don’t overspend and run out of money.” He groaned and wrapped his arms around Kunimi’s waist, “Do you know anyone who is free tomorrow night that would go to dinner with me?” He sighed, “Don’t even bother answering that unless you know an heiress because she would need an evening gown. It’s fucking dinner but my parents like to act like it’s an award show. And a high end award show at that.”

Kunimi looked at him, “Your family seems weird. Does it have to be a girl? Because I’m sure that you could get Oikawa to go with you. He has a fairly nice suit.”

Yahaba laughed, “Oh my god no! His suit is awful. But it doesn’t have to be a girl technically. My parents are...semi alright with me being gay but if I had a girlfriend I might get out of dinner until we break up or something.”

“But if you’re gay why would you date a girl in the first place?”

He shrugged, “I mean girls aren’t disgusting, they’re extremely pretty, I just want to have absolutely no sexual relations with one.”

“Ah.” Kunimi shrugged and played with Jelly’s tail, “I’m sure Oikawa would wear a dress and makeup for you. He might even put on extensions.”

“I don’t want to to take Oikawa to meet my parents! That’s weird and he’d do something stupid and you know it. He’d probably talk about space or aliens the entire time.” He sat up and grabbed Kunimi’s shoulders, “Do you think Matsuwaka would let me borrow his extremely attractive fiancé?”

“Well he would make a much prettier woman than Oikawa and he wouldn’t say anything stupid...but I think he’s out of town right now at a fashion week or something.”

Yahaba groaned and leaned back on his couch, “I guess that means I’m stuck going to dinner alone! I’ve done it before, so I can do it again. I can do this.” He turned to look at Kunimi, “Don’t you need to get home? Spend time with Kenma?”

Kunimi shrugged, “I mean we technically just spent twelve hours together, it was at work sure but I just want a few more minutes without four cats on top of me.”

“Four? When did you get another cat?”

“Kenma is basically a cat,” Kunimi looked at him, “So him and the three actual cats all lay on me after dinner...then again when we actually go to bed.”

“How does that work exactly?”

Kunimi stood up and set Jelly on the coffee table, “Lay out on the couch.” Yahaba glanced at him but did as told. Kunimi picked up Jelly and placed her by Yahaba’s head. She instantly curled around his head with her tail tucked under his chin. He watched Kunimi leave and return with Sundae. He set her on Yahaba’s shin so her cheek was resting on his foot, “Stay.” Kunimi turned to Yahaba, “Now imagine another one on your other shin.” Kunimi looked at him, “Don’t get weird with this next bit.” He laid down with his back to Yahaba’s chest, he placed his feet next to Yahaba’s hips, grabbed Yahaba’s hands and wrapped them around him so his hands were resting on his belly. “This is how my weekends go.”

Yahaba raised an eyebrow, “Does that not get...um how do I put this...your ass is on my dick how do you survive like that for hours?”

“You know, Yahaba, I fucking don’t. It’s worse because Kenma gets shifty when he plays games but nothing happens because my boyfriend has a horribly low libedio and doesn’t even realize that he’s turning me on as often as he does.”

“Alright if you’re going to talk like that you need to get off of me.” Yahaba muttered as he tried to push Kunimi off of him.

Kunimi laughed and stood up, “Alright, I should probably get Jelly home anyways. She needs to eat her dinner.” He picked up Jelly, “Thank you for taking her in today. You really saved us.”

Yahaba shrugged and sat up, “It wasn’t a big deal. It actually took me longer to drive there and back than the actual appointment took. Thanks for the dinner by the way.”

He shrugged, “Well since you actually ate with Tobio and Yuutarou I figured I might as well feed you as well. Besides we got dinner from the same place for ourselves so it really wasn’t a big deal.”

Yahaba moved Sundae off of his leg and stood up, “Well I’m thanking you anyways, Akira. Now go home to your three other cats.”

Kunimi laughed and walked towards the entry, “Alright. Thank you again. I hope dinner tomorrow is more tolerable than you're expecting.” He put Jelly in her carrier and grabbed the papers off of it.

“I’m sure it will be worse but thank you for the encouragement.”

He picked up Jelly’s carrier, “I’ll see you Thursday hopefully.”

Yahaba smiled, “See you Thursday.”


	4. Hootie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late. I don't even have an excuse.

“Shigeru!” Please be a dream pleas-Yahaba groaned loudly as a heavy weight collided with his body. It was far too damn early for this shit. “Shigeruuu!” He felt a pair of large arms wrap around him and roll them onto their sides. “Yaaahaaabaaa Shigeru! Wake the fuck up! I need a favor!”

Yahaba groaned and reached an arm up between their bodies, “Bokuto. I don’t have any chips; you stole my last ones two weeks ago. Please leave me alone so I can sleep.” He lightly tapped Bokuto’s nose, “Off.”

Bokuto laughed loudly and removed his arms from Yahaba, “I’ll let you go back to sleep if you agree to do something for me.”

He opened one eye and looked at the loud man, “What is it?”

Bokuto smiled brightly, “At four this afternoon could you take Hootie down to that one vet place? Where Watari works? She’s been chewing her foot and she started to walk funny today and I’m worried about her.” He pouted and wrapped his giant arms around Yahaba once again, “Please help me take care of my baby! Hajime and I are both sooo booked at work today that I can’t even bother to move anything around. I’m so busy I’ll barely have a lunch break and I’ll be home late.”

Yahaba buried his face in the pillow, “I will do it for Hootie, because I love her.” He groaned and rubbed his eyes, “I guess I can give Watari that dumb photo too.”

Yahaba felt his body get squeezed tightly to Bokuto’s, “Thank you, Shigeru! Hajime said he’d even cook you dinner since I couldn’t change my schedule. I have to help Keiji, two idols, an actress, and then like four normal people. I’m going to die.” He could hear the pout in Bokuto’s voice towards the end of his sentence.

“I will, now, also do it for Iwaizumi’s cooking.” He rolled onto his side and looked at Bokuto, “When did Akaashi get back in town? I thought he was in New York?”

“He was! He got back Monday night and he called me almost instantly, well, probably after a round with the boytoy, if you know what I mean.”

Yahaba rolled his eyes, “I do know but I didn’t need that Bokuto. Plus, they’ll be married this fall does that still count for boytoy?”

“Sorry...I don’t think so though. I think Oikawa is the closest to having a boytoy and I am not ok with that. Anyways, the point, Keiji called and he asked me if his scheduled appointments were still saved which they were because I knew he would want to be trained. Since he’s one of my best friends I knew he would want it as-wait a minute! Shigeru didn’t you just have dinner with Watari last night? Did he give you something you have to return?”

Yahaba shook his head, “No. His mom was in town and even though he begged me to go to dinner with him. I refused since he didn’t go with me to my parents dinner. So we had to cancel our normal plans.”

“Did that go well? Hajime told me you were stressed about it so we had a quiet day on Sunday. Well, we didn’t stay in the house much on Sunday, honestly, but eh, we were technically still quiet!”

Yahaba sighed and buried his face in Bokuto’s chest. Bokuto quickly wrapped his arms around him and stroked his hair. “It went as well as I thought it would. My dad lectured me a ton and mom tried to set me up with three different women and then tried to convince me to go to speed dating.” He sighed again and rubbed his cheeks, “She wants grandchildren so badly she even told me ‘Shigeru just get married and adopt a cute child already. It doesn’t need to be my biological grandchild at all and I don’t count Sundae as a grandchild no matter how many times you add her name to cards’.  Which I find hilarious because she has never tired to set me up with a man.The only good thing was that the food was amazing! My mom wouldn’t let me get any extra to take home. I wish I had more.”

“I would have gone as your fake boyfriend!”

Yahaba laughed, “That’s sweet, Bokuto, but you’re pretty much married to Iwaizumi. I couldn’t take you away from him for a night. Plus, don’t lie to me you just want to be there for the fancy food and you would only talk about him or Hootie.”

Bokuto gasped, “Shigeru, how could you say that? I would be there for the food and you! Mostly you even. The food would just be an awesome bonus.”

“Thank you Bokuto. The sentiment means a lot to me.” Yahaba stretched his back until it popped as he yawned loudly, “What time is it?”

“A little after five.”

Yahaba growled and pushed at Bokuto’s shoulders, “Get the fuck out of my house! I only went to bed an hour ago!”

Bokuto laughed loudly and kissed Yahaba’s forehead before crawling off of his bed, “I’m sorry! I’ll text you after Keiji’s appointment to remind you about Hootie! Don’t worry I don’t get done with Keiji until two!” He raced out of the bedroom. “Sleep well, Shigeru!” Bokuto yelled before slamming the front door on his way out.

Yahaba groaned and rubbed his eyes, “Why is life so unfair?” He flopped over to his other side and smiled softly when Sundae popped up onto the bed next to him, “Hey, Sweet Sundae.” He gently itched behind one of her ears until she flopped down on her side and curled up closely to his stomach. “Why do you always have to make me stop being angry? That’s not fair, Princess.” Sundae looked up at him and meowed softly. He chuckled and placed a hand lightly on her side, “Alright, alright. Let’s go back to sleep.”

 

* * *

 

Yahaba didn’t sleep well that night...morning. After being woken up by Bokuto he had an impossible time falling back to sleep and an even harder time staying asleep. He ended up forcing himself out of bed at ten because he got annoyed with not sleeping. Yahaba made a quick breakfast for himself, fed Sundae, and then he sat at his desk not doing anything for two hours. Just a typical Wednesday morning.

After a quick lunch, Yahaba sat on his couch, laptop opened, Sundae snuggled next to his hip, and some random variety show playing on the television. The perfect setup for productivity!

Except, Sundae was being super cute and the show was actually really hilarious. But there was absolutely no way in hell that he created the cast of his “novel” in The Sims. Not a chance. He would not spend any time trying to perfectly make the faces of characters he had barely written, in a game he only bought to try and have a few more conversations with Kenma. Nope. He totally wrote that afternoon, proper actual writing, not character sheet editing or messing with the outline, full on proper writing, with words and complete sentences. So many words were added to that document.

Yahaba is full of absolute shit. Once Sundae had fallen asleep and stopped being extra adorable he pulled up the character sheets on his tablet, just to get back in the headspace of the story, but while he was editing them, because he can’t leave good enough alone, he realized he couldn’t quiet picture how they looked. So he booted up The Sims, a game he was completely addicted too and Kenma didn’t give a single shit about, just to make the main character, honestly! Two households later and he had created the ten main characters from his sheet and three minor ones that really won’t matter.

Sadly, it wasn’t even completing his sims that pulled Yahaba back to reality. It was Sundae tapping his arm to get him to pet her, after she was ignored, she climbed into his lap and stretched across his chest to rub her face on his cheek.

Yahaba ran a hand down her back, “Hey, Princess, what’s going on?” Sundae meowed and pawed at his cheek, softly digging her claws in. Yahaba grabbed her paw and pet her with his free hand, “Alright, Needy. I’ll pet you just stop with the claws!” He ended up picking her up off of his lap and kissed her cheek, “My arm is tired so you’re going to have to stop being needy for a bit.” He stood up and placed Sundae back on the couch. Yahaba stretched until his spine popped a couple of times. He yawned and left the living room to go to his office. He picked up his phone and glanced at the time before letting out a very loud and not very manly scream.

Three thirty. He wasted three hours and he had no clue how he had done it but he was very close to being fucked now, and definitely not in the fun way either. He quickly scrambled around his apartment shoving things into an old backpack from his school days. Once he had everything he checked his phone again and noticed two unread messages.

 **Hoot Across the Hall** : This is your Hootie reminder!  
**Hoot Across the Hall** : She gets anxious in cars so she’ll probably lay on the floor. Don’t worry about it it’s just her weird little thing.

Yahaba sighed softly and shoved his phone in his bag as he picked up his keys and put on his shoes, “You be good, Sundae! I’ll know if you’ve been naughty!” He locked and shut the door. He took the two steps across the hall and punched in the entry code for the keyless entry. Because we just can’t use keys anymore apparently. Yahaba opened the door and felt his heart skip a beat as he was met with a jumping Australian Shepherd.

“Hey, Hootie.” Yahaba held his hand out until she sat down, then started petting her, “Where the hell is your brother?” Once Hootie got over her excitement Yahaba grabbed his phone and called Bokuto.

“Shigeru? What’s wrong? Did you forget our code?”

“No no, I got in just fine, Bokuto. Where is Godzilla? I mean, he’s a big dog and he’s normally at the door before Hootie. Did something happen to him?”

Yahaba frowned as he heard a deep laugh, “Sorry Yahaba! I probably should have told you that Hajime took him to work today! Godzilla is playing with the kids at the hospital because Hajime thought he would be jealous if Hootie got to leave and he didn’t. He thought it would be easier for you that way. Was that everything?”

“Yeah. Sorry for calling while you were at work I was just worried.”

“It’s fine, Shigeru! But, I uh, gotta go...my client looks very pissed off right now...I may have confiscated her phone and now she’s mad. Anyways, thank you for taking care of my dog! I’ll see you at six!”

Yahaba looked down at Hootie and ruffed her head, “Your dad is a weird man, Hootie.” He stared down at her as her tongue hung out one side of her mouth. “But you’re so damn cute.” He grabbed her leash off of the coat rack by the door and hooked it to her collar, “Now let’s get you to the vet so we can get your cute wee foot checked out.” He led her out of the apartment and down to his car. It was a little tricky trying to convince her to get in the new car but they still managed to leave with just enough time. When he pulled into the parking lot of the clinic he glanced back at Hootie who was laying on the floor of the backseat.

He glanced at himself in the rearview mirror and groaned, “Fucking shit.” He ran a hand through his hair and whined, “Why why why can’t I ever look decent when I come here?” Yahaba slapped the steering wheel. He popped open the glove compartment and dug around for a minute until he pulled out a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses, “Well, at least this way Shinji can’t make fun of my bloodshot eyes.” He flattened his hair before putting on the hat and glasses. Yahaba got out of the car and grabbed Hootie’s leash, “You ready to see what’s wrong with that wee foot of yours?”

Hootie jumped out of the car and instantly started sniffing the ground. “Come on, Girl,” Yahaba tugged gently on the leash and led her into the clinic. For once Yahaba was not met with a snide remark by Watari right off the bat...He was actually working and helping a woman with her small daughter and their even smaller dog, which had to start barking at them the second Yahaba and Hootie walked into the building like it wanted to fight Hootie.

Yahaba wrinkled his nose and walked over to the small seating area and sat down. Hootie pushed her way between his legs and sat with her head resting on his thigh. “You’re so darn cute. I would adopt you if Bokuto wouldn’t be a whiny baby about it.” Yahaba smiled and stroked her head softly. He glanced up as the small dog started yapping louder and tugging at its leash trying to race over to Hootie.

“Roxy! Stop! That doggie could eat you up!”

Yahaba hid his smile from the small girl’s remark. He knew Hootie wouldn’t do anything. She may be a hyper little devil but she’s the second sweetest dog he ever met.

The women bent down and picked up the dog before shushing it. The dog did quit barking but still growled down at Hootie. The pair left with their dog and a quick apology to Watari. But none to Hootie. What a bunch of evil people...with an even more evil dog.

Yahaba stood up and walked over to the counter, “So, people other than me actually do show up here. That’s nice to know. I was starting to wonder if you only got this job because you convinced all of your friends to bring their pets here.”

Watari scowled at him, “I hate that woman and I hate that small dog. The small girl is fine for now. Hopefully, she turns out better than her mom.” He glanced up at Yahaba, “Did you get drunk last night? You look god awful.” He shuffled about some papers, “Well, more awful than the amount of awful on the standard day. Seeing as you normally look like you slept under a bridge.”

“I didn’t drink at all. What makes you think I’m hung over, you slimy little bastard?”

Watari raised an eyebrow and waved his hand at him dismissively, “The shades, the greasy hair you tried to hide with the hat, which I don’t know if it’s leaning more towards hipster or stoner, but you’re wearing pajama pants, the shirt you wore Monday, and flip flops.” He stepped around the counter, “You know if someone just looked at you from the waist up they might think you were in an idol group...but then they would see the bottom half of you and question if you were homeless or just a really poor student. Like, so poor, people would question if you could even pay for school. You really need to wash your feet better. Seriously, how are your toes brown?”

Yahaba frowned and followed Watari over to the scale, “It’s almost like you hate me, Shinji. I think that you would be surprised to know I actually look even worse without the hat and glasses. Even I know that.”

Watari turned to him after getting Hootie on the scale, “You know, I really don’t think I would be surprised. I’m pretty sure you’ve at least got huge bags under your eyes. Are they a little bloodshot too?”

“At least they’re Guchi?”

“Yahaba, we both know my younger sister has a more expensive bag than you will ever buy yourself. The bags under your eyes are clearly from you not knowing how to sleep at night.”

Yahaba shook his head, “Ah ah ah! It wasn’t my fault this time! Bokuto came into my room and woke me up at five and you know I can’t sleep easily after I wake up unless I’m super relaxed...and I haven’t been relaxed since fourth grade...maybe even second grade?”

Watari cocked an eyebrow and led him to an exam room, “And what time did you go to bed before that?”

“Four.”

He sighed and slapped a hand to his face, “See Yahaba, this is why I stress over you more than your own mother does! You’re going to fucking kill yourself soon. Did you eat at all today?”

Yahaba frowned and wrapped his arms around Watari’s neck, “Aw, Honey, you don’t have to worry so much about me. I’ll go to bed early tonight and sleep in late in the morning and I’ll even order delivery before you get home. I did eat twice today though.”

“Going to bed early for you is saying you're going to go to bed by midnight but you’ll start watching a documentary or playing The Sims and the next thing you know it’s four in the goddamn morning!” He pushed Yahaba off of him, “I’m going to come up to your place tonight when Baby needs her nightly pee and if you aren’t in bed, trying to, or actually sleeping, I’m going to fucking strangle you and then stuff your stupid face with food that didn’t come out of a microwave. Do you understand?”

Yahaba nodded quickly, “Crystal clear, Shinji. Oh! I have something I need to give you before I leave so remind me when I’m done!”

Watari sighed, “Alright. I’ll go tell Kyoutani you’re here so just hold tight.”

Yahaba sat on the bench as Watari shut the door. Hootie walked over and sat between his legs again. He chuckled and ruffled her ears, “Are you nervous, Sweetpea? Doctors are kinda scary but you’ll feel so much better when your foot is fixed you won’t even mind.”

“Ah, Yahaba, you’re back again...Where’s the carrier?”

Yahaba turned to Kyoutani, hot as always and sans lab coat, and the forearms were back with avengence and Yahaba was going to die, “I, uh, have a dog this time. Hootie has been chewing her foot and I guess she was walking funny on her run this morning...so I guess she was running funny? It might have been after they got home and then it was walking? I didn’t run her...Obviously.”

Kyoutani chuckled, it was fucking sexy, and walked over, “Well, let's see if we can get a look at her foot. Do you know which one?”

Yahaba unhooked her leash, “Uh...No. I would take a guess that it’s the left one because she’s leaning pretty heavily into me on her right side. How do you need her?”

“If you can get her to lay down that would probably be easiest on her.”

“Hootie, lay down.” Hootie turned her eyes up to him, “Alright, you aren’t going to do it are you.” Yahaba sighed and sat on the ground before be pat his knee, “Come on, Hootie, lay down.”

Hootie laid down next to him and put her head on his thigh. Yahaba rubbed her side softly until she rolled onto her other side, “Is this good?”

Kyoutani smiled and nodded, “Yeah, it’s perfect.” He crouched down in front of Hootie and held a hand out to her, “She seems pretty calm for being in a new place.” After Hootie sniffed his hand he gave her a couple pets before picking up a paw.

Yahaba idly played with Hootie’s ears as he watched her, “She’s generally pretty hyper but she does like people...Most of the time.”

Kyoutani hummed, “That’s good. Does she get a lot of walks in winter?”

“Yeah.” Yahaba frowned, “I think, she almost always gets two walks. She has anxiety but her medication never really worked but the two walks really calm her more than any medicine ever has. I guess it’s kinda in her breed though.”

“Before next winter, you might want to get her some snow boots. I know it’ll probably look dorky and she might not like them but she has a little damage on her pads from ice.” Kyoutani picked up her other front foot, “It should heal before summer and it isn’t what is causing the chewing. Also, just to be safe try and run or walk her less on the concrete in summer. The cement could burn her pads when it gets too hot.”

Yahaba laughed and tapped her nose, “You’re gonna be so adorable in snow booties. I am going to need all of the photos of that. But, I’ll make sure of the hot and cold problems get told to the runner.”

Kyoutani chuckled softly, “Well, at least you’re positive about it.”

“Well, if she has little booties then she won’t have to get the little snowballs picked out from between her toes either. And she’ll just look adorable.” Yahaba smiled, “Should we get you little rain booties and a raincoat too? How adorable would you be in rain clothes?”

“You really want to dress her up don’t you?”

Yahaba smiled sheepishly, “Well, when I adopted Sundae she had been in a fight and had a pretty big gash on her belly and she kept licking the stitches so the shelter had put her in an infant onesie and she was so cute. But she doesn’t get to wear cute clothes anymore because the stitches are long gone and she’s an indoor cat that doesn’t get shaved so she doesn’t need the protection from the cold or anything...and she also hates clothes. But, dear little Hootie here goes outside for hours all the time so a little protection wouldn’t be bad.”

Kyoutani looked up at him and smiled, “I guess that’s fair enough.”

Yahaba met his gaze and his heart did that thing that he thought only happened in Shojo manga. Kyoutani’s face was a lot closer than he was expecting. So close, Yahaba could see the flecks of gold in his eyes, the little beginnings of crow's feet by his eyes as he smiled, and he could probably count the little faint freckles on Kyoutani’s nose. They were absolutely adorable and Yahaba was in love...with the freckles obviously!

“Yahaba?”

Yahaba blinked and dropped his gaze down to Hootie, “Yeah?” Sunglasses were a good move today. Hopefully they were dark enough that Kyoutani couldn’t pick out exactly where he was staring.

“I said, I think I know what’s causing her pain,” Kyoutani picked up her paw, “There’s a really small piece of glass in the side of her pad It’s kind of covered by fur so it’s difficult to just spot it. It looks a little inflamed but we can take care of that right now.”

Yahaba nodded, “Awesome.” Yahaba watched as Kyoutani stood up and walked over to the cabinets in the room, and he just had to bend over to get something out of the lower set. Yahaba could nearly feel blood drip from his nose after getting a great view of that fantastic ass. If he could bounce a large coin off of that perfect ass he could die happily...That’s a lie, he wants to do much more to a perfect ass like that then just bounce coins off of it.

Kyoutani came back, he crouched down and picked up Hootie’s paw before gently pulling out the bit of glass. He put the glass of the counter and started to clean Hootie’s cut, “I’m going to wrap her foot in bandage and put a little bootie over her foot just so she can’t chew at the cut directly and irritate it. If she doesn’t try to chew at it they can come off the morning after tomorrow. If she’s a chewer the bandage should probably stay on longer and changed every second day but she is a dog and she’s gonna be in charge. So just listen to her.”

Yahaba laughed and stroked her side, “Can do. She can normally be a bit temperamental if she doesn’t want to do something.”

Kyoutani smiled and wrapped her foot, “She should still be able to walk or run just fine. Just watch her a little closely until the cut is closed up. Other than that she should be perfectly fine and good to go.” He slipped a little bootie on her foot and pet her head, “She’s such a good girl.”

Yahaba smiled and rehooked her leash, “She’s a very good girl. Hootie up.” Hootie stood up. Yahaba smiled and stroked her, “Good girl.” He stood up at the same time as Kyoutani and smiled, “Thank you for your help.”

“Not a problem.” Kyoutani pet Hootie’s head gently, “I don’t even believe you about her being hyper or having anxiety she seems way too calm.”

He smirked and tilted his head to the side, “Maybe you’re just a dog whisperer.”

Kyoutani laughed and shook his head. He turned away and awkwardly muttered, “I can assure you I’m really not.” He cleared his throat and opened the door to the room, “I need to talk to Watari quickly so I’ll walk you out.”

Yahaba nodded and walked out to the front. Watari looked up from his desk and stood up when he noticed Kyoutani following him.

“We’re free for the rest of the day?”

Watari glanced at the computer, “Yeah, it looks like Hootie was the last appointment scheduled for the day.”

Kyoutani nodded, “Alright, can you set a sign on the door with our number and lock up after Yahaba leaves? Aki has been a little pent up lately and I want to go take care of him before he gets in one of his little annoying moods. I don’t know if I can handle another night of him freaking out.”

Watari nodded, “I will get right on that, Sir!”

“Alright, thank you.” Kyoutani glanced at Yahaba, “It was nice seeing you again.”

Yahaba smiled and nodded, “You too.”

The two waited until Kyoutani left through the staff door. Watari leaned over the counter and punched him in the arm, “Where’s my thing? Did you wear those sunglasses the entire time? Because that’s a little creepy.”

Yahaba slowly turned to him, “Yes.” He took his backpack off and reached inside. He pulled out a picture frame and held it out to Watari, “Congratulations on surviving dinner with your mom.”

Watari reached across the counter and snatched it quickly, “Oh my god. I think I just got a little bit of a boner Look at how good you look!” Watari held the photo out and flicked his eyes between the photo and Yahaba, “You know if you at least cleaned up and did your hair like in the picture everyday you would already have a boyfriend. Fuck you’d probably be married and getting a good dicking every night. Like excerpt level dicking. That’s how nice you clean up.”

“You know that just all sounds really awkward coming from you.” Yahaba ran a hand down his face, “Can you just hurry up so we can go home?”

“You’re gonna give me a ride?”

“I didn’t know that you thought I was a complete asshole! We’re both going to the same building I might as well give my best friend a damn ride.”

Watari smiled and sat down, “I knew you loved me, Shigeru!”

Yahaba smiled and shook his head, “Yeah yeah yeah. My best friend is a dick who likes to point out how awful I look everyday. How could I not love you?”

“I don’t like pointing out how awful you look...I love doing it.” Watari stood up, walked around the counter, and put some papers in Yahaba’s bag, “That’s for Bokuto.” He reached over the desk and pulled a sign out from behind his computer and taped it to the door, “Alright, let’s get out of here!”

Yahaba walked outside and watched Watari lock the door before leading him over to his car. They drove back to their building in silence, minus Watari’s soft snores, he fell asleep a few feet from the clinic. Yahaba didn’t find it cute one bit, not at all. No matter how cute it wasn’t Yahaba really didn’t have the heart to wake him up. He even managed to let Watari sleep until he parked the car. Yahaba turned it off and turned in his seat so he was facing Watari. Now how to wake up his beloved best friend? So many options and only one gets to be chosen. He leaned over the center console and got close to Watari’s ear. “Shinji!”

Watari jumped awake screaming, “What the fuck, Yahaba?”

He laughed loudly and leaned back, avoiding one of Watari’s flailing hands, “We’re home. Go sleep in your bed like a good boy.”

Watari pushed at his face, “Shut up. I’m still checking on you later you little shit.” He got out of the car but leaned back in, “I’m gonna make sure you go to bed at a decent time or I swear to god I’m going to move into your apartment with you.”

Yahaba smirked, “Would you really give up your cute little dog walker to make sure I went to sleep at a decent time?”

He smirked as Watari’s face dusted red, “Sh-shut up!” He slammed the car door and stomped out of the parking garage.

Yahaba turned to Hootie, “Well he’s not happy. He’ll get over it though. You ready to get back home?” Hootie hopped out of the car and stood at his feet. Yahaba smiled and clipped her leash on, “Should we go see if Godzilla is home yet?” She barked once and started pulling towards the elevator. Yahaba allowed Hootie to lead him to the elevator and to her door. After he opened the door Hootie tugged away from him sharply with a loud bark, “Hootie!”

“Hey there, Hootie. Did you have a good time today? You have a cute little bootie.”  

Yahaba shut the front door and walked into the apartment, “Iwaizumi?”

Iwaizumi walked out of the kitchen, “Hey Yahaba. My last client called at the last minute to say they couldn’t make it so I came home early to start cooking.”

“Oh,” Yahaba walked over and took the leash off of Hootie, “That’s cool. Where’s Godzilla though?”

Iwaizumi sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “Uh, 'Zilla refused to leave.”

“Oh no.”

“Yeah. The pediatric staff didn’t even know how to react.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned on the wall, “They told me the kid was so excited when 'Zilla came into the room and then none of them had the heart to call her parents when Godzilla didn’t want to leave with me.”

“Did they call her parents?”

“Of course they did, they just didn’t want to. There’s a good chance she’s going to die tonight, I’m more interested to know if her asshole parents even show up tonight. I swear all they care about is money and not their ten year old daughter.”

Yahaba frowned and looked at him, “Wait, how do you know this? You don’t work in predicatics. You do PT?”

Iwaizumi sighed, “She first came to the hospital with a back injury. It wasn’t anything serious, it easily could have been, but she had to come to PT. I never saw any adult with her, she was always alone. It’s so weird to see a child alone in the waiting room. A couple weeks after her first x-ray the radiologist finally saw the x-rays, not just a tech, and he thought there was something there. So the poor girl had to have a CAT scan...They found a lot of cancer.

“Apparently, she hadn’t been well for a while, but her parents thought that her symptoms were just from starting gymnastics so they never brought her in.” Iwaizumi gripped his hair with both of his hands and pulled at it, “They thought a child losing twenty pounds in three months was normal. I just want to know why they had a child if they weren’t even going to try and take care of her. That isn’t normal at all! Takahiro was at the hospital checking on a patient when he saw Zillia glued to her side. He gave me a heads up before I even tried to take him.”

Hootie walked over to Iwaizumi and bumped his knee with her snout. Iwaizumi knelt down and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, “Aw, you’re such a sweet girl.” He kissed the top of her snout and ruffled her ears, “You’re just like your daddy.” Iwaizumi hugged her close before standing up, “Go lay down.” As Hootie trotted out of the room, he turned to Yahaba and grabbed his wrist, “And you can come and help me cook.”

“Wait, are you sure that’s a good idea, Iwaizumi?” Yahaba tried to tug his wrist away as he babbled, “I can barely make rice...and I have a rice cooker! It still turns out terribly!”

Iwaizumi laughed as he led them into the apartment, “And you’ll never get any better at cooking if you don’t try. At least I’ll be here to help you.”

“I still don’t think this is a very good idea.”

“We’re just making a simple stir fry. It’ll be easy, healthy, and something you can actually make on your own or for you and Watari so you both eat less pizza.”

Yahaba frowned, “Are you calling me fat? I thought your boyfriend was the personal trainer. I guess they changed what PT stood for?”

Iwaizumi turned to him and frowned, “I would never call you fat Yahaba. Honestly, I wouldn’t even call you cubby. I’m just concerned with how much garbage you eat. You don’t have to be overweight to unhealthy.”

“I guess that’s nicer than Watari,” He ran his hands down his face, “I know I’ve gotten a little soft but, I don’t know, I don’t feel worse off.”

“Yahaba.”

He groaned and crossed his arms over his chest, “Fine, I guess I get super tired climbing the stairs to go to bed...but to be fair! That is a stupidly long set of stairs.”

“It’s not even two flights.” Iwaizumi walked over to the fridge, “I don’t want to pressure you or make you feel like you have to but Koutarou and I go on walks after dinner and you’re more than welcome to join us.”

Yahaba frowned and leaned against the counter, “Dogs?”

Iwaizumi barked with laughter before putting ingredients on the counter, “Well yeah. Neither of us want to walk or run the number of miles we do a day but we need to for the dogs.” Iwaizumi glanced at him, “Get over here so you can learn.”

Yahaba sighed loudly, “If you just had a smaller kitchen.” He smiled before standing next to Iwaizumi, “Alright, try and teach me.”

They worked together slowly chopping up for twenty minutes before the apartment door opened, Hootie barked, the door slammed shut, a loud thud, finally followed by a deep whine, “Hajime!”

“Bad day, Kou?” Yahaba glanced at Iwaizumi as Bokuto walked into the room and draped himself over Iwaizumi’s back with his arms around his waist.

“It was terrible.” Bokuto buried his face in Iwaizumi’s shoulder and muttered, “Keiji was the only decent one. Everyone else was sooo difficult! The actress was a brat, the idols acted like they didn’t even want to be there, and my civis that are normally nice were acting put upon like I made they show up but I didn’t make the appointment and I didn’t drive them to the gym. I was just trying to do my job.”

Iwaizumi turned around and kissed Bokuto’s cheek, “Hey, at least the week is half over and then we get to spend the weekend doing whatever we want.”

“No it isn’t,” he whined and re-dropped his head on Iwaizumi’s shoulder, “I have to spend Saturday morning teaching a girl group a workout routine on how to stay toned. I can’t even fake sick because it’s so much money. Why can’t I be a hot trophy husband?”

Iwaizumi smiled and ran his hands through Bokuto’s hair, “Because you aren’t married? Or because you’d be bored out of your skull after a day? You get an itch to go back to work after the weekend, Babe.”

“I’ll be your hot trophy boyfriend then and spend the rest of my days cuddling with the dogs.”

“You’re going to smell really badly if you do that.” Iwaizumi kissed his forehead and rubbed his back softly, “Why don’t you go lay down on the couch with Hootie, until dinner is ready? Just take your mind off of work for a while.”

Bokuto nodded and turned towards the couch, “Alright.”

“Love you, Kou.”

“I love you too, Hajime,” He turned back around and kissed Iwaizumi quickly.

Yahaba watched as Bokuto fell on his back on the couch and tapped his chest once before Hootie jumped on top of him and placed her head on his shoulder. “I hate you guys.”

Iwaizumi turned to him, “What?”

“You’re too cute.” Yahaba picked up his knife again, “Your relationship is cute, your dogs are cute, hell even your apartment is cute. Fuck off with your cuteness.”

“Really, Yahaba?” he placed the knife back on the counter before turning to Iwaizumi who was doubled over in laughter, “You have two of the same things...well kind of you have a cute cat instead of two cute dogs.”

“My apartment isn’t cute. It feels like a modern factory. It’s just...big and empty.”

Iwaizumi threw his arm around his shoulders, “Well you know it’ll feel more lived in once you actually use more than three rooms. Or if you get someone else to live there with you.”

Yahaba shrugged away from Iwaizumi’s grip and shook his head, “Watari is already threatening that and I’d rather him not live with me. It’ll be so much nagging that I may actual explode.”

“I meant a boyfriend, Yahaba. Watari has less furniture than a college student. Go out and try just getting to actually meet people it might do more for you than you think.”

“I know, it’s just...I don’t know if I deserve it.”

Yahaba felt Iwaizumi grab his shoulder and spin him around, “What the hell do you mean you don’t deserve it?”

Yahaba sighed and ran a hand down his face, “I don’t know it’s just like...I’m not doing anything. I don’t deserve to have something good when I’m a piece of shit that doesn’t even have an income or any skills.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard I nearly want to slap you.” Yahaba took a step back. “You are worth more than an income, Shigeru. There’s plenty of people who never work a day in their life and they have happy lives with families. You’re working. You may be struggling right now and you may never get a big movie deal that will launch you so hard you don’t know where you’ll end. But you’re trying, that’s all that matters. Don’t sell yourself short just because you’re struggling right now and you are not where you want to be. And skills? What do you mean by that? You have plenty of skills and you’re a good person.”

Yahaba rubbed at his eyes and groaned, “But, what if, I’m not trying?” he wrapped his arms around himself as his eyes welled with tears, “What if, I can’t write because I don’t believe it’ll be good? I just sit there for hours not doing anything because I can’t get the words out and it scares me and makes me so disappointed in myself that I give up even more than I already seem to have done. I can’t even come up with an idea that doesn’t sound like something I’ve already read sixty fucking times. I can’t even bother to order food half the time because I feel like my stomach is constantly burning and I feel like I’m going to be sick all of the time.”

He yelped loudly as he was lifted off of the ground, “Bokuto?! What the hell?!” Bokuto ignored him and carried him further into the apartment.

Bokuto carried him into the bedroom and laid Yahaba down on his side in the middle of the bed. He laid down beside him, tucked Yahaba under his chin, and wrapped his arms tightly around Yahaba’s waist before patting the bed in front of him, “Hootie up.” She hopped up on the bed and laid down next to Yahaba. He laid his top arm over Hootie and rubbed her chin with his bottom hand.

“Shigeru, don’t forget that we love you ok? You mean a whole lot to a lot of people. Whether your books sell a lot or even if you never sell another book ever again or never even complete another sentence of writing. We love you, and we aren’t going to stop just because you don’t feel like you deserve it.” He reached up and wiped away Yahaba’s tears before he squeezed him close to his body, “You’re a good person and you deserve to be happy, however that comes to you. We’re always going to be here for you.”

 

* * *

 

The next thing Yahaba knew, he was in the middle of a very warm, very muscled sandwich. He hadn’t even realized he had fallen asleep, let alone that Iwaizumi had been swapped for Hootie. He wiggled his arm out between his and Iwaizumi’s chests and rubbed at his eyes. He felt a hand run through his hair as his body got pulled closer to Bokuto’s again.

Bokuto then loudly whispered, “Is he awake now?”

“Yes. The better question is does he feel better?” Yahaba nodded slightly. Iwaizumi brushed his hair off his forehead, “Are you hungry?” he nodded again. Iwaizumi sat up, "Alright, you have ten minutes to finish waking up.”

Iwaizumi left the room and Yahaba rolled onto his other side, wrapped his arms around Bokuto, and buried his face in his chest, “Hey, Bo, can I ask you a dumb question?”

“Sure thing, Shigeru. I’m sure it’s not dumb though.”

“How did Hootie get her name?”

Bokuto laughed and buried his face in Yahaba’s hair, “It was an accident honestly. When I went to pick a dog at the shelter, it was close to closing time so the lady was kinda rushing me. I saw Hootie and I had to have her so I was playing with her as the lady did her half of the adoption papers and when she asked me what I wanted to name her I said ‘Who--Bettie’ and when I got the papers I saw Hootie and I thought it was adorable so I didn’t call her Bettie after.”

Yahaba yawned and snuggled closer to him, “That’s pretty adorable. Hootie should be the name of a pet that a man who had owl hair in high school owns.”

Bokuto leaned back and looked at him, “How do you know about that?!”

Yahaba laughed, “Iwaizumi and Akaashi have both shown me pictures. Although, I must say, Akaashi has better high school pictures of you. They feel more embarrassing...Iwaizumi has a lot of cute pictures but why wouldn’t he?”

“Why do you say that?”

Yahaba shrugged, “Well, he loves you why wouldn’t he want cute pictures of you? Akaashi is just a good friend so he would keep the funny and embarrassing ones.”

Bokuto hummed softly, “That makes sense. You’re pretty clever...but we need to get up because Hajime will eat all of the food without us.”

“But I don’t want to stand up,” Yahaba whined loudly.

“Fear not, Shigeru!” He watched Bokuto roll out of bed before he was swept up into his arms, “I’ll take you to the table but you’re gonna have to walk to your own place after.”

Yahaba laughed, “I’m sure after food and some embarrassing pictures of Iwaizumi I will fully be able to walk back to my place on my own.”

Bokuto laughed and placed Yahaba in a dining chair, “I don’t think a single embarrassing photo of Iwaizumi exists. He looks damn good in every photo.” He sat across from Yahaba and leaned forward, “I don’t know if you know this Shigeru but my boyfriend is a very sexy person and he rarely doesn’t look like sex on legs.”

Yahaba crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes, “Yeah I’m sure he’s never taken a bad photo. I’ll ask Oikawa. I’m sure he has some or at the very least Matsukawa and Hanamaki have some. I know Iwaizumi never had a bad photo taken in the two years we went to high school together but there has to be one.”

He watched Bokuto slowly blink at him two times, “If you get any send them to me?”

“Of course!” He laughed and rubbed his eyes, “I’ll send you every embarrassing picture of him that I get because you need them.”

“Embarrassing pictures of who?” Yahaba turned to look at Iwaizumi as his walked in with a big bowl of steaming food. He set it on the table and sat down.

“Shigeru thinks he can find embarrassing photos of you.”

Iwaizumi let out a sharp laugh and started to dish out food, “Good luck. The only people I’m seen truly embarrassing photos of are Tooru and Takahiro...But he pulls dumb faces on purpose so I guess really Tooru’s the only one with embarrassing pictures that I know of.”

Yahaba waved his hand, “That’s not even fun. Everyone has an embarrassing photo of Oikawa. The first years after you guys left even had embarrassing photos of him.”

“But who has the best one?” Bokuto quickly shifted his gaze between the two of them. He frowned, “Hajime has an advantage of knowing him a lot longer so it’s not fun if he actually has the worst photo.”

Yahaba smiled and started to eat, “I have one so bad Oikawa tried to buy it from me and also bribe me after I showed it to him.”

Iwaizumi snapped his gaze to him, “He did what? I’ve only ever seen him ask for it to be deleted and hang off of people. What is it?”

“This information does not leave this table and when I send it to you it doesn’t get mentioned or sent to anyone else, alright?” Yahaba waited until he had a small nod from both Iwaizumi and Bokuto, “I took a photo of Oikawa in high school, where he’s sat on the sidewalk full on ugly crying because a small terrier dog wanted his attention. He was sitting there sobbing with this tiny dog in his lap as it licked his face. I thought it was weird that he would cry that hard so I asked him about the next day because I honestly thought that something was wrong. But I swear to god when I showed him the photo he looked like he shit his pants.”

Iwaizumi dropped his utensils onto his plate and stared at Yahaba with his mouth slightly parted, “You have to send that to me as soon as possible. I have to see what Oikawa was so embarrassed about.”

He laughed and waved his hand, “I’ll send it when I find. I know that it’s on something...somewhere in my apartment.”

“So we won’t actually get to see it for a month?”

Yahaba sighed and looked at Bokuto, “I would think it would be a little sooner than a month. I don’t have that many things to go through...just three.”

He relaxed a little as Iwaizumi snorted, “It’s not a big deal Yahaba. I know you’ll get it to us eventually. That’s all that really matters right? Now eat before the food gets cold.”

Yahaba nodded, “Alright, alright.”

The three ate in relative silence with idle chit chat occasionally filling the air. After Bokuto took the empty dishes to the kitchen Yahaba stood up from the table.

Iwaizumi grabbed his arm, “Where do you think you’re going?”

Yahaba blinked at him, “Uh...Home?”

“Not until you have a slice of my pie!” Bokuto screamed from the kitchen.

Yahaba smiled softly and sat back down, “Alright but only because I love pie.”

Bokuto came back in with three plates, “Yeah but you love my pie the most right?”

“Of course!” Yahaba took a plate and started to eat, “The perfect meal is Iwaizumi’s cooking followed by your deserts.”

Iwaizumi nudged him lightly, “Then why did you try to leave so quickly?”

Yahaba shrugged, “I guess I just don’t want to overstay my welcome.”

Bokuto leaned across the table and rapped his knuckles against Yahaba’s forehead, “You’re always welcome here, Shigeru.”

“Thank you.”

 

* * *

 

“Shigeru get the fuck in bed! It is one in the morning!”

Yahaba looked up from his laptop to see Watari standing in front of his door with a very angry look on his face, “There’s no way! It was only nine when I started playing! That was like an hour ago!”

Watari stormed over to him and moved Yahaba’s laptop to the side before he pulled Yahaba to a standing position by his shirt, “Get. In. Bed. Now.”

Yahaba flicked his nose, “Alright. Will you at least save my prison for me? Zesty is in for six hundred years now and it is ridiculously funny.” The noise Watari made in the back of his throat made Yahaba sprint up the stairs faster than he has in a long time.

Yahaba flopped onto bed not even bothering to change before he quickly got under the covers. He snuggled up and closed his eyes, nearly falling asleep before he sat up in horror, “Is Aki Kyoutani’s boyfriend?!”

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](http://neconemo.tumblr.com/)


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